Abstract submission deadline: 15 March 2016

The CLIVAR Open Science Conference “Charting the course for climate and ocean research” will be held in Qingdao, China from 18-25 September 2016.

Abstracts can be submitted via the Conference website until 15 March 2016. Abstracts must be submitted to one of the OSC sessions; for an overview, check the programme and session descriptions. Selected contributions will be invited for oral presentation, all others as posters. Contributors may submit up to 3 abstracts. All abstracts must be submitted in English, with a maximum of 500 words, and may include only text and symbols.

For more details:

3rd Announcement

http://www.clivar2016.org/

Abstract submission deadline: 15 May 2016

The WCRP Model Hierarchies Workshop will be held on 2-4 November 2016 at Princeton University, New Jersey, USA under the auspices of the WCRP Grand Challenge on Clouds, Circulation and Climate Sensitivity and the Working Group on Coupled Models.

Note the deadline of 15 May 2016 for abstract submission.

For more details:

First announcement – Call for abstracts

wcrp-climate.org/gc-model-hierarchies-home

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

Transport of ice into the stratosphere and the humidification of the stratosphere over the 21st century. By A.E. Dessler et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

The double peak in upwelling and heating in the tropical lower stratosphere. By A. Ming et al. in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

Improved simulation of tropospheric ozone by a global-multi-regional two-way coupling model system. By Y. Yan et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Sensitivity of Thin Cirrus Clouds in the Tropical Tropopause Layer to Ice Crystal Shape and Radiative Absorption. By R.D. Russotto et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Continued emissions of carbon tetrachloride from the United States nearly two decades after its phaseout for dispersive uses. By L. Hu et al. in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Co-ordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics (CAST). By N.R.P. Harris et al. in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

Revisiting the relationship between jet position, forced response and annular mode variability in the southern mid-latitudes. By I.R. Simpson and L.M. Polvani. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Impacts of Interactive Stratospheric Chemistry on Antarctic and Southern Ocean Climate Change in the Goddard Earth Observing System – Version 5 (GEOS-5). By F. Li et al. in the Journal of Climate.

Sensitivity of the surface responses of an idealized AGCM to the timing of imposed ozone depletion-like polar stratospheric cooling. By A. Sheshadri and A. Plumb in Geophysical Research Letters.

11-year Solar Cycle Signal in the NAO and Atlantic / European Blocking. By L.J. Gray et al. in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Simulated long-term climate response to idealized solar geoengineering. By L. Cao et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Interannual variability in effective diffusivity in the upper troposphere / lower stratosphere from reanalysis data. By M. Abalos et al. in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Transport pathways from the Asian monsoon anticyclone to the stratosphere. By H. J. Garny and W. Randel in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The role of planetary waves in the tropospheric jet response to stratospheric cooling. By K.L. Smith and R.K. Scott in Geophysical Research Letters.

Evaluation of the ACCESS – chemistry–climate model for the Southern Hemisphere. By K.A. Stone et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Discussion papers – open for comment

Chemical analysis of refractory stratospheric aerosol particles collected within the arctic vortex and inside polar stratospheric clouds. By M. Ebert et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

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Abstract submission and pre-registration deadline: 31 May 2016

The objective of the SPARC QBO Workshop is to gather together researchers to better understand the QBO, its tropospheric origins and its global impacts/teleconnections, including circulation/chemistry effects, within observations, reanalyses, and present-day GCMs.

The Workshop will

(1) evaluate present-day and projected QBO variability in observations and models, including reporting results from the joint model experiments that were planned at the 2015 QBO workshop

(2) explore modelled and observed teleconnections in the climate system, also including those linked with the QBO and

(3) design joint numerical experiments following active participant discussions during special breakout sessions.

The emphasis of (3) will be for addressing the impact of tropical variability on other parts of the climate system.

The meeting will include a combination of keynote, invited and contributed science presentations, mixed in with break-out sessions to discuss further planned experiments. Further details, including Workshop fees, will follow shortly.

Please register your interest for the conference online on the workshop website.

Scientists observed a minor warming of the Arctic Polar stratosphere in the first half of February but temperatures have since decreased back to levels that permit the existence of polar stratospheric clouds (PSC). The Polar vortex also extended far southward, moving above large parts of Europe again, giving lots of stations the opportunity to measure vortex air where considerable ozone losses occurred. The below figure shows temperature forecasts at the 450K level, indicating a tendency for temperature increases but thereafter a further decrease.

The 2015/2016-Northern Hemisphere winter continues to be scientifically fascinating!

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

Influence of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation and Sea Surface Temperature Variability on Downward Wave Coupling in the Northern Hemisphere. By S.W. Lubis et al. in the Journal of Atmospheric Sciences.

Multi-year climate prediction with initialization based on 4D-Var data assimilation. By T. Mochizuki et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Global normal mode planetary wave activity: a study using TIMED/SABER observations from the stratosphere to the mesosphere-lower thermosphere. By S.R. John and K.K. Kumar in Climate Dynamics.

Strengthening of the Tropopause Inversion Layer During the 2009 Sudden Stratospheric Warming: A MERRA-2 Study. By K. Wargan and L. Coy in the Journal of Atmospheric Sciences.

Dynamical consistency of reanalysis data sets in the extratropical stratosphere. By P. Martineau et al. in the Journal of Climate.

Troposphere–stratosphere response to large-scale North Atlantic Ocean variability in an atmosphere/ocean coupled model. By N.E. Omrani et al. in Climate Dynamics.

Drift dynamics in a coupled model initialized for decadal forecasts. By E. Sanchez-Gomez et al. in Climate Dynamics.

Preferred response of the East Asian summer monsoon to local and non-local anthropogenic sulphur dioxide emissions. By B. Dong et al. in Climate Dynamics.

The Combined Influences of Autumnal Snow and Sea Ice on Northern Hemisphere Winters. By J.C. Furtado et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Evolution of stratospheric sulfate aerosol from the 1991 Pinatubo eruption: Roles of aerosol microphysical processes. By T. Sekiya et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Water vapour variability in the high-latitude upper troposphere – Part 2: Impact of volcanic eruptions. By C.E. Sioris et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Unexpected high ³⁵S concentration reveals strong downward transport of stratospheric air during the monsoon transitional period in East Asia. By M. Lin et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Discussion papers – open for comment

Characteristics of lower stratospheric transport as inferred from the age of air spectrum. By F. Ploeger and T. Birner in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

How can we understand the solar cycle signal on the Earth’s surface? By K. Kodera et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Return glider radiosonde for in-situ upper-air research measurements. By A. Kräuchi and R. Philipona et al. in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions.

The 2016 IGAC (International Global Atmospheric Chemistry) Conference is being held from 26-30 September in Breckenridge, Colorado, USA.

The 6 scientific sessions are focused on:

1. Atmospheric Chemistry and Urbanisation
2. Atmospheric Chemistry, Ecosystems and Agriculture
3. Atmospheric Chemistry and Energy
4. Atmospheric Chemistry and Fundamental Studies
5. Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Change
6. Atmospheric Chemistry – Observing Composition and Variability

Important dates:

02 April 2016: Abstract Submission Deadline

16 May 2016: Abstract Acceptance Notification

15 June 2016: Early Bird Registration Deadline

1 September 2016: Hotel Reservation Deadline at Conference Rate

See the conference website for more details: www.igac2016.org

50^th CMOS Congress & joint CGU Annual Meeting

May 29 – June 2, 2016, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Coupled modelling and the Year of Polar Prediction

As numerical weather prediction systems become further refined the interactions across the Air-Ice-Ocean interface are becoming increasingly important. This is giving rise to the development of a new generation of fully-integrated environmental prediction systems composed of atmosphere, ice, ocean, and wave modeling and analysis systems. Such systems are in increasing demand as the utility of marine information products (e.g. for emergency response) becomes more widely recognized. This is particularly relevant for the upcoming Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP), a period of intensive observing, modelling, verification, user-engagement and education activities planned for mid-2017 to mid-2019, to enable a significant improvement in environmental prediction capabilities for the polar regions and beyond, including ice-ocean forecasting. YOPP is a major initiative of WMO’s World Weather Research Polar Prediction Project (WWRP-PPP). This session welcomes contributions on coupled environmental prediction on timescales from hours to seasons, covering the range of coupled processes and interactions at play on regional and global spatial scales, and their application in analysis and forecasting systems. Contributions on observations, modelling and verification related to YOPP are especially invited. This session is co-sponsored by the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) Ocean View (GOV) Coupled Prediction Task Team (CP-TT) and WWRP-PPP.

Please submit abstracts electronically to:

http://congress.cmos.ca/site/abstracts_submission choosing the “interdisciplinary and other” theme and “Coupled modelling and the Year of Polar Prediction” session. The submission deadline is February 29, 2016.

More information about the Congress can be found at http://congress.cmos.ca

WMO is kindly asking for 15-20 minutes of your time to respond to the Satellite User Survey 2016. This Survey is designed to collect up-to-date information on the capabilities and needs of the satellite user community and WMO Members in using satellite data in meteorological, climate, water, and related environmental applications:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wmosatsurvey2016 (in English) https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wmosatsurvey2016_es (in Spanish) https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wmosatsurvey2016_fr (in French) https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wmosatsurvey2016_ru (in Russian)

Please provide your response by 15 March 2016.

Particular emphasis in this survey is on:

• Readiness of users to exploit data from the new generation of meteorological and environmental satellites which is being put in service over the next five years
• User needs for satellite-derived information on soil moisture, lightning, ocean colour, greenhouse gases, and inland water bodies (identified as emerging priorities by many users in a 2012 WMO survey)
• Challenges that users face in the reception, processing, visualization, and application of satellite data, and related training needs

Your responses will help WMO set priorities and take remedial action to address challenges identified by users, where possible.