At the conclusion of 2018, four members of the IGAC Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) will reach the end of their terms of service on the committee: Co-chair Mark Lawrence (IASS, Germany), Colette Heald (MIT, USA), Alastair Lewis (University of York, UK), and Noureddine Yassaa (CDER, Algeria).

IGAC is accepting nominations to replace these excellent four outgoing SSC members. In addition, IGAC is looking to increase the size of its SSC by an additional 1-2 people. Nominations from Asian countries, as well as other regions of the world, not currently represent on the IGAC SSC are highly encouraged.  If you wish to submit a nomination for a SSC membership (three-year term starts 1 January 2019), please fill out this online form and upload the nominees CV by 20 April 2018. Self-nominations are welcome.

Please keep in mind that IGAC strives to have a SSC with diversity in geographical representation, gender, and expertise. To view current SSC members and their expertise, visit igacproject.org/people.

For more information on the role and expectations of SSC members, please feel free to contact the IGAC Executive Officer, Megan L. Melamed ().

A selection of new science articles from the past week of interest to the SPARC community (a SPARC Office choice).

Role of Finite-Amplitude Rossby Waves and Nonconservative Processes in Downward Migration of Extratropical Flow Anomalies. By S.W. Lubis, C.S.Y. Huang, and N. Nakamura in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

Recently amplified arctic warming has contributed to a continual global warming trend. By J. Huang et al. in Nature Climate Change.

Current sources of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in our atmosphere. By D. Sherry et al. in the Environmental Research Letters.

An intercomparison of stratospheric gravity wave potential energy densities from METOP GPS radio occultation measurements and ECMWF model data. By M. Rapp et al. in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques.

Optimizing the Definition of a Sudden Stratospheric Warming. By A.H. Butler and E.P. Gerber in the Journal of Climate.

Lower-stratospheric control of the frequency of sudden stratospheric warming events. By P. Martineau et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

The Role of Zonal Asymmetry in the Enhancement and Suppression of Sudden Stratospheric Warming Variability by the Madden–Julian Oscillation. By W. Kang and E. Tziperman in the Journal of Climate.

On the interaction of observation and prior error correlations in data assimilation. By A.M. Fowler, S.L. Dance, and J.A. Waller in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

On the reproducibility of the September 2002 vortex splitting event in the Antarctic stratosphere achieved without satellite observations. By S. Noguchi and C. Kobayashi in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Synoptic Formation of Double Tropopauses. By C. Liu and E. Barnes in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

On the Climate Impacts of Upper Tropospheric and Lower Stratospheric Ozone. By Y. Xia, Y. Huang, and Y. Hu in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

MJO-Related Intraseasonal Variation in the Stratosphere: Gravity Waves and Zonal Winds. By M.J. Alexander et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Discussion papers – open for comment

Impact of tropical lower stratospheric cooling on deep convective activity: (I) Recent trends in tropical circulation. By K. Kodera et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Join the 6th SPARC General Assembly from 1st to 5th October 2018 in Kyoto, Japan!

Abstract submission is already open. (Abstract submission deadline: 1  April 2018)  Sumit your abstract here.

Awards will be made to the best presentations by Early Career Scientists (ECS) in each of the six science themes of the conference.

For Early Career Scientists we offer a limited amount of travel  support, for which you can apply separately. (Travel support request deadline: 15 March 2018)

Early-bird registration will open on 15 April 2018.

We are still awaiting answers from more invitees around the globe.  Find an updated version of the list, along with more information on  the science themes, venue, registration details, and more on the  conference web pages:  http://www-mete.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/SPARC_GA2018/index.html or  http://www.aparc-climate.org/meetings/general-assembly-2018/.

We look forward to a great conference, and hope you will join in!

See you in Kyoto!

Download the 2nd announcement.

A selection of new science articles from the past week of interest to the SPARC community (a SPARC Office choice).

Forced decadal changes in the East Asian summer monsoon: the roles of greenhouse gases and anthropogenic aerosols. By F. Tian et al. in Climate Dynamics.

Characterizing Stratospheric Polar Vortex Variability With Computer Vision Techniques. By Z.D. Lawrence, and G.L. Manney in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Effects of Greenhouse Gas Increase and Stratospheric Ozone Depletion on Stratospheric Mean Age of Air in 1960-2010. By F. Li et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

DLR Conference on Climate Change 2018 – Atmospheric Research for Understanding and Mitigating Climate Change

in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)

Cologne, Germany, 17-19 April 2018, www.dlr.de/ccc2018

This scientific conference aims to bring international scientists, space agencies and interested parties together with United Nations entities such as UNOOSA, UNSPIDER, UNFCCC, WMO and GCOS and thus provide a discussion forum to elaborate on the substantial challenges faced in atmospheric climate research. By encouraging an open exchange of ideas we hope to facilitate the implementation of suitable measures to support the requirements as outlined in the Paris Agreement.

During the conference, invited oral presentations will be given by renowned experts in the field. In addition, there will be a dedicated poster session for contributed papers.

Please visit www.dlr.de/ccc2018 for further information.

Online registration is now possible. Online registration closes on April 3, 2018. The deadline for abstract submission for poster presentations is March 15th, 2018 . Please note that hotel accommodation at reduced rates is available until March 6^th, 2018.

The February 2018 edition of the newsletter is now available online:

http://www.aparc-climate.org/publications/newsletter/sparc-newsletter-no-50/

You can browse through individual workshop reports or download the complete issue in a small or in a large version for print.

Enjoy reading through an interesting collection of workshop reports and SPARC science descriptions.

 

A selection of new science articles from the past week of interest to the SPARC community (a SPARC Office choice).

Rossby Wave Propagation into the Northern Hemisphere Stratosphere: The Role of Zonal Phase Speed. By D.I.V. Domeisen, O. Martius, and B. Jiménez-Esteve in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Seasonal persistence of circulation anomalies in the Southern Hemisphere stratosphere, and its implications for the troposphere. By N.J. Byrne and T.G. Shepherd in the Journal of Climate.

Weakly or strongly nonlinear mesoscale dynamics close to the tropopause? By Q. Li and E. Linborg in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

Global patterns of declining temperature variability from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene. By K. Rehfeld, T. Münch, S.L. Ho, and T. Laepple in Nature.

Stratospheric Smoke With Unprecedentedly High Backscatter Observed by Lidars Above Southern France. By S.M. Khaykin et al. in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Satellite Observations of Stratospheric Gravity Waves Associated with the Intensification of Tropical Cyclones. By L. Hoffmann, X. Wu, and M.J. Alexander in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Mountain Wave Propagation under Transient Tropospheric Forcing A DEEPWAVE Case Study. By T.C. Portele et al. in the Monthly Weather Review.

A selection of new science articles from the past week of interest to the SPARC community (a SPARC Office choice).

Optimizing the definition of a sudden stratospheric warming. By A.H. Butler and E.P. Gerber in the Journal of Climate.

Ten Year Analysis of Tropopause-Overshooting Convection Using GridRad Data. By J.W. Cooney et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Mechanisms Governing Interannual Variability of Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Ozone Transport. By J.R. Albers et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Climate impact of idealized winter polar mesospheric and stratospheric ozone losses as caused by energetic particle precipitation. By K. Meraner and H. Schmidt in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Discussion papers – open for comment

Volcanic impact on the climate – the stratospheric aerosol load in the period 2006–2015. By J. Friberg et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Size-Resolved Stratospheric Aerosol Distributions after Pinatubo Derived from a Coupled Aerosol-Chemistry-Climate Model. By T. Sukhodolev et al. in Geoscientific Model Development.

The conference will be held 17-21 September 2018 at NCAR, Boulder, USA.

The calls for abstracts and applications for financial support are now open with deadline 16 March 2018.

Find more details on the conference web site.

The International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland, and ISSI-BJ in Beijing, China, invite proposals for establishing International Teams to conduct on their premises research activities in Space Sciences, based on the interdisciplinary analysis and evaluation of data from spacecraft, and possible integration with ground data and theoretical models. The Call is open to scientists of any nationality, actively involved in the following research fields:

1. Space Sciences (Magnetospheric and Space Plasma Physics, Solar-Terrestrial Sciences, Solar and Heliospheric Physics, Planetary Sciences, Astrobiology, Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Fundamental Physics in Space)

2. Earth Sciences using space data

Deadlines for proposals:

Letter of Intent due:                  February 20, 2018

Online proposal Submission:      March 28, 2018

More details: ISSI_ISSI-BJ_annual_call2018