The Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report (TOAR:  http://www.igacproject.org/activities/TOAR) is a current IGAC activity with a mission to provide the research community with an up-to-date scientific assessment of tropospheric ozone’s global distribution and trends from the surface to the tropopause.

Guided by this mission, TOAR has two goals:

1. Produce the first tropospheric ozone assessment report using all available surface observations and based on the peer-reviewed literature and new analyses.
2. Generate easily accessible, documented data on ozone exposure and dose metrics at hundreds of measurement sites around the world (urban and non-urban), freely accessible for research on the global-scale impact of ozone on climate, human health and crop/ecosystem productivity.

The report is being written as a series of eight stand-alone publications to be submitted for peer-review to Elementa:  Science of the Anthropocene, an open-access, non-profit science journal founded by five US research Universities and published by University of California Press (www.elementascience.org).  As the papers become available each will be posted to the TOAR webpage, listed above, for a 30-day open comment period.  We invite members of the atmospheric and biological sciences communities as well as the general public to read the papers and provide comments if they wish to do so.

One more TOAR paper has just become available for open comment:

Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report:  Critical review of changes in the tropospheric ozone burden and budget from 1960-2100

Author Team: A.T. Archibald, J. L. Neu, Y. Elshorbany, O. R. Cooper, P.J. Young, H. Akiyoshi, R.A. Cox, M. Coyle, R. Derwent, M. Deushi, A. Finco, G.J. Frost, I. E. Galbally, G. Gerosa, C. Granier, P.T. Griffiths, R. Hossaini, L. Hu, P.Jöckel, B. Josse, M. Y. Lin, M. Mertens, O. Morgenstern,  M. Naja, V. Naik, S. Oltmans, D.A. Plumer, L.E. Revell, A. Saiz-Lopez, P. Saxena, Y.M. Shin, I. Shahid, D. Shallcross, S. Tilmes, T. Trickl, T. J. Wallington, T. Wang, H. M. Worden, G. Zeng.

The paper can be downloaded from:
http://www.igacproject.org/activities/TOAR/OpenComments

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

Estimates of regional source contributions to the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer using a chemical transport model. By T.D. Fairlie et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Convective bursts with gravity waves in tropical cyclones: case study with the Himawari‐8 satellite and idealized numerical study. By T. Horinouchi et al. in the Geophysical Research Letters.

QBO modulation of the MJO‐related precipitation in East Asia. By H. Kim, S.-W. Son, and C. Yoo in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Effective resolution in high resolution global atmospheric models for climate studies. By R. Klaver et al. in the Atmospheric Science Letters.

Connections between Stratospheric Ozone Concentrations over the Arctic and Sea Surface Temperatures in the North Pacific. By M. Liu, D. Hu, and F. Zhang in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Trends in northern midlatitude atmospheric wave power from 1950 to 2099. By H.S. Sussman et al. in Climate Dynamics.

The dependence of mountain wave reflection on the abruptness of atmospheric profile variations. By M.A.C. Teixeira and J.L. Argaín in the Qarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Towards a reanalysis of stratospheric ozone for trend studies: Assimilation of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder and Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler data. By K. Wargan et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Discussion papers – open for comment:

Quantifying CanESM5 and EAMv1 sensitivities to volcanic forcing for the CMIP6 historical experiment. By L.A. Rieger et al. in Geoscientific Model Development.

The Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) through its Implementation plan for 2016-2023 embarked on the development of new environmental products and services for the user community. These are to be implemented through the translational scientific initiatives, namely the Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information System, IG3IS (ig3is.wmo.int), Global Air Quality Forecasting and Information System (GAFIS) and Measurement-Model Fusion for Global Total Atmospheric Deposition (MMF-GTAD).

The Environmental Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry Scientific Steering Committee (EPAC-SSC) that coordinates the work of GAW, is seeking nominations for the Steering Committees of the above mentioned initiatives to guide and facilitate their scientific and technical implementation. Please find a short description of each initiative below.

The Steering Committees of each individual initiative (one team per initiative) shall contain regional representation and reflect diversity in gender and other aspects. With this announcement, EPAC-SSC encourages scientists to apply for the 15 seats on the individual Steering Committees, with rotating membership terms of 2 or 4 years. All members will be selected through this call. Members who contributed earlier to the initiatives are encouraged to apply. Nominees are expected to devote sufficient time and effort to allow for regular participation at the initiative’s events and shall actively engage in the development and promotion of GAW activities. They can be at different stages of their scientific career but must have peer-reviewed publication records, demonstrating expertise in the realm, relevant to the particular initiative. Specializations of the Nominee’s research or operational activity should be related to one or more of the following: atmospheric chemistry, greenhouse gases, forecasting, inverse modelling, data assimilation, air quality and health, atmospheric deposition, food security, climate, data analysis. Self-nominations must be made by 29 February following the template below. If you are interested in nominating an individual (other than yourself) please use the same template.

The nomination form is available here.

Please direct any questions to the EPAC-SSC Chair Prof Greg Carmichael.

Since 2016, IGAC has hosted an Early Career Short Course (ECSC), which is an intensive three-day course, prior to the IGAC Science Conference. The Short Course brings together some of the most promising early career atmospheric scientists from across the globe in order to cultivate and educate the next generation of leading atmospheric scientists. The Short Course aims to build on the strong scientific education and research early career scientists receive during their Ph.D.s and post-docs by introducing complex ideas, concepts, and skills that will allow these early career scientist to become successful established scientist and contribute to the international community and to a sustainable planet.

The 2020 IGAC Early Career Short Course will take place the three days prior (11-13 September 2020) to the 16th IGAC Science Conference in Manchester, UK.  A select group of 40 future leaders in atmospheric chemistry will attend the early career short course. The scope and design of the short course is being determined by an organizing committee comprised of early career scientists from around the world.

More information about the 2020 IGAC ECSC and prior short courses.

If you have any questions regarding the short course, please send an email to .

Apply to the 2020 IGAC Early Career Short Course

There is an opportunity to submit an abstract to the
“Large-scale moisture and organized cloud systems” session
in upcoming JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2020 in 24-28 May 2020 at Chiba, Japan.
(The session will be held on 27 May)

The website of the meeting is:
http://www.jpgu.org/meeting_e2020/

Early submission deadline is 11:59pm JST 4 February 2020,
and final submission deadline is 5:00pm JST 18 February 2020.
The submission fee is lower if you submit the abstract before the early deadline.

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

A topography of climate change research. By M.W. Callaghan, J.C. Minx, and P.M. Forster in nature: climate change.

Dependence of sudden stratospheric warming type‐transition on preceding North Atlantic Oscillation conditions. By H. Choi et al. in the Atmospheric Science Letters.

Transport of short-lived halocarbons to the stratosphere over the Pacific Ocean. By M.T. Filus et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The building blocks of Northern Hemisphere wintertime stationary waves. By C.I. Garfinkel et al. in the Journal of the Climate.

Quantitative detection of iodine in the stratosphere. By T.K. Koenig et al. in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

Current and emerging developments in subseasonal to decadal prediction. By W.J. Merryfield et al. in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

Are contributions of emissions to ozone a matter of scale? – a study using MECO(n) (MESSy v2.50) By M. Mertens et al. in Geoscientific Model Development.

Convectively Forced Diurnal Gravity Waves in the Maritime Continent. By J.H. Ruppert, X. Chen, and F. Zhang in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

Assessing the impact of initialization on decadal prediction skill. By R. Sospedra-Alfonso and G.J. Boer in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Discussion Papers – open for comments:

Projecting ozone hole recovery using an ensemble of chemistry-climate models weighted by model performance and independence. By M. Amos et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Quantifying uncertainties of climate signals related to the 11–year solar cycle. Part I: Annual mean response in heating rates, temperature and ozone. By M. Kunze et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The impact of weather pattern and related transport processes on aviation’s contribution to ozone and methane concentrations from NOx emissions. By S. Rosanka, C. Frömming, and V. grewe in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Seasonal stratospheric ozone trends over 2000–2018 derived from several merged data sets. By M.E. Szeląg et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The 3rd DLR conference on Climate Change (CCC 2020) will take place at the Flora in Cologne, Am Botanischen Garten 1a 50735 Cologne/ Germany on 28-30 April 2020. We are looking forward to welcome you in Cologne in April 2020!

A short overview of the topics for CCC 2020 – Climate Research in the light of the Paris Agreement in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is given below.

Understanding Climate Change is the most important scientific as well as social challenge of this century. Climate Change is a change on a systems level. To combat Climate Change clearly needs Earth Observation and Remote Sensing via satellites. Issues of aviation, transport, energy management and artificial intelligence are strongly needed either. All of these research fields are tackled by the German Aerospace Center.

This time we will be concentrating on developing ideas for specific steps to take concerning mitigation and adapting climate change influences. Again, prominent international scientists, space agencies and interested parties together with representation from the United Nations such as UNOOSA, UNSPIDER, UNFCCC, WMO and GCOS will be joining force to exchange ideas and intensify our joint knowledge of the effects of climate change. The aim is to provide a concrete basis for the implementation of suitable counter measures which can be adopted by governmental and non-governmental entities.

To register or to find more information, please see our CCC 2020 Website: www.dlr.de/CCC2020

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Conference Office

Petra Naoum
Tel. +49 2203 601 3896
Mobile: +49 174193 5578
E-Mail:

Svetlana Saburova
Tel. + 49 2203 601 4285
E-Mail

Highlight articles (office choice):

Substantial twentieth-century Arctic warming caused by ozone-depleting substances. By L.M. Polvani et al. in nature climate change.

The chemists policing Earth’s atmosphere for rogue pollution. Nature News feature by Jane Palmer.

Effect of deep convection on the TTL composition over the Southwest Indian Ocean during austral summer. By S. Evan et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Diagnosing concurrent drivers of weather extremes: application to warm and cold days in North America. By D. Faranda et al. in Climate Dynamics.

The influence of ENSO events on the stratospheric QBO in a multi-model ensemble. By F. Serva et al. in Climate Dynamics.

Interhemispheric Coupling Mechanisms in the Middle Atmosphere of WACCM6. By A.K. Smith, N.M. Pedatella, and Z.K. Mullen in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

The emergence and evolution of Earth System Science. By W. Steffen et al. in nature reviews earth & environment.

Natural control on ozone pollution. By A. Stenke in nature climate change.

Temperature and tropopause characteristics from reanalyses data in the tropical tropopause layer. By S. Tegtmeier et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

What can we learn about orographic drag parametrisation from high‐resolution models? A case study over the Rocky Mountains. By S.B. Vosper et al. in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

The generic nature of the tropospheric response to sudden stratospheric warmings. By I. White et al. in the Journal of the Climate.

Fast transport pathways into the Northern Hemisphere upper troposphere and lower stratosphere during northern summer. By Y. Wu et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Discussion papers – open for comments:

Seasonal impact of biogenic VSL bromine on the evolution of mid-latitude lowermost stratospheric ozone during the 21st century. By J.A. Barrera et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Effect of deep convection on the TTL composition over the Southwest Indian Ocean during austral summer. By S. Evan et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Differences in tropical high clouds among reanalyses: origins and radiative impacts. By J.S. Wright et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The 16th IGAC Science Conference (IGAC2020) will take place in Manchaster from 14th to 18th September 2020.

The IGAC science conferences are run biannually and attract approximately 600 international scientists, industry leaders, and early career researchers from around the world and includes many leading funding agencies.

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

Tropical and mid-latitude teleconnections interacting with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall: a theory-guided causal effect network approach. By G. Di Capua et al. in Earth System Dynamics.

Analysis of the middle atmospheric ozone using SABER observations: a study over mid-latitudes in the northern and southern hemispheres. By V. Joshi et al. in Climate Dynamics.

Regional to Global Evolution of Impacts of Parameterized Mountain Wave Drag in the Lower Stratosphere. By C.G. Kruse in the Journal of the Climate.

A history of the global carbon budget. By B. Lahn in WIRES Climate Change.

Spontaneous inertia‐gravity wave emission from a nonlinear critical layer in the stratosphere. By I. Polichtchouk and R.K. Scott in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Predicting the Downward and Surface Influence of the February 2018 and January 2019 Sudden Stratospheric Warming events in Subseasonal to Seasonal (S2S) Models. By J. Rao, C.I. Garfinkel and I.P. White in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

The UK Environmental Change Network datasets – integrated and co-located data for long-term environmental research (1993–2015). By S. Rennie et al. in Earth System Science Data.

Response of the quasi‐biennial oscillation to a warming climate in global climate models. By J.H. Richter et al. in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Discussion papers – open for comment:

A Raman Lidar Tropospheric Water Vapour Climatology and Height-Resolved Trend Analysis over Payerne Switzerland. By S. Hicks-Jalali et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Propagation of gravity waves and its effects on pseudomomentum flux in a sudden stratospheric warming event. By I.-S. Song et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

A tropospheric pathway of the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) impact on the boreal winter polar vortex. By K. Yamazaki et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.