WCRP Accomplishment Report

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WCRP Accomplishment Report 2005-2009
Promoting, Facilitating and Coordinating Climate
Research in Service to Society
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Outline

• Mission and Objectives
• Implementation
• Main Accomplishments
• Facilitating Climate Science Awareness
• Global/Regional Science Coordination
• Observations, Synthesis and Monitoring
• Modeling and Prediction Capabilities
• Applications
• Capacity Building
• Lessons Learned
• Conclusions

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Reports, Newsletters, E-Zine, Web,
2007-2008 Accomplishment Report
2006-2007 Accomplishment Report
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Mission Objectives
WCRP supports climate-related decision making and
planning adaptation to climate change by
developing the science required to determine the

• Predictability of climate and
• Effect of human activity on climate

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Implementation Projects, Activities Partners
Sponsors and Partners WMO ICSU IOC-UNESCO
Core Projects GEWEX CLIVAR SPARC CliC
Unifying COPES Themes Observations Analysis
Modeling
Cross-Cutting Activities Anthropogenic Climate
Change Atm. Chemistry Climate
Sea Level Rise Extremes
Seasonal Prediction
Decadal Prediction Monsoons
International Polar Year
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Climate Science AwarenessAssessments
Accomplishments

• Experiments from 16 groups 24 coupled models
• Nov 2008 gt2200 users gt500 publications gt462 Tb

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Climate Science AwarenessAssessments
Accomplishments
IPCC
CliC Cryosphere chapter
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Climate Science AwarenessAssessments
Accomplishments
WMO/UNEP Ozone Assessments
Experiments from 16 groups
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Climate Science Coordination Integration
Accomplishments
Partnerships with other International Programs
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Climate Science Coordination Integration
Accomplishments
Partnerships with other International Programs

• WCRP, IGBP GCOS Workshop Future Climate
  Change Research and Observations Lessons
  Learned from IPCC AR4 (Oct 2007, Sydney
  Australia)

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Climate Science Coordination Integration
Accomplishments
International Polar Year
WCRP Involvement Coordinated by CliC
Themes and Structures of IPY Projects
Arctic stations and Precipitation
Climate at forefront thru gt 20 WCRP-Affiliated
Projects
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Climate Science Coordination Integration
Accomplishments
Within WCRP

• Asian Monsoon Years (07-12)
• Major component of WCRP IMS
• 24 regional projects/13 nations
• Goal Improved predictions

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Climate Science Coordination Integration
Accomplishments
Across WMO

• WGNE e.g., a new parameterization expert
  group, with aim of
• WMO-wide coordination to strengthen links with
  applications

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Observations, Synthesis, and Monitoring
Accomplishments
WCRP Observations and Assimilation Panel
WOAP Members from all WCRP Projects and Modeling
Groups and GCOS science panels (AOPC, OOPC, TOPC)
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Observations, Synthesis, and Monitoring
Accomplishments
GEWEX
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Thank You Soroosh!
And welcome Tom!!
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Observations, Synthesis, and Monitoring
Accomplishments
SPARC peer-reviewed WCRP reports and review
papers
2006 Ozone Assessment
Temperature change is important component of
attribution research Thus, major effort by SPARC
to ensure best possible database
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Observations, Synthesis, and Monitoring
Accomplishments
But not everything is melting
CliC
Greenland Melt Area
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Observations, Synthesis, and Monitoring
Accomplishments
CliC
Greenland Melt Area
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Observations, Synthesis, and Monitoring
Accomplishments
CLIVAR
Monitoring AMOC
IndOOS
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Observations, Synthesis, and Monitoring
Accomplishments
CLIVAR
ARGO
WCRP enabling initialized predictions
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Prediction Capabilities
Accomplishments
CLIVAR WGSIP
180 attendees/ 30 countries
Maximum predictability not yet achieved
interactions among climate system components (pan
WCRP)
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Prediction Capabilities
Accomplishments
JSC/CLIVAR WGCM
Decadal Prediction
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Prediction Capabilities
Accomplishments
GEWEX GMPP

• MISSION is to facilitate improved representation
• of energy and water cycle in models
• Largely translates into evaluation and
• improvements of parameterizations
• Process studies are a critical tool

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Prediction Capabilities
Accomplishments
SPARC CCMVal
Process-oriented model metrics
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Prediction Capabilities
Accomplishments
WCRP Modeling Panel

• World Modeling Summit (May 2008)
• A strategy to revolutionize weather climate
  prediction
• Concept of seamless prediction
• Climate Prediction Project (IGBP, WWRP, WCRP) to
  provide global climate information for regional
  adaptation and decision-making
• World Climate Research Facility to accelerate
  progress in operational climate prediction,
  building global capacity, developing a trained
  scientific workforce, and engage global users

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Applications
Accomplishments
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Applications
Accomplishments

• WCRP scientists active in planning/organizing

• WCRP will
• Promote climate research in the context of
  climate information for decision-making
• WMP Modeling Summit Model Development
• Climate Information System Framework
• Play a major role in the scientific/technical
  segment (white papers, theme leaders, etc.)
• Engage in the policy segment which targets heads
  of states, ministers, senior government officials

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Capacity Building
Accomplishments
Workshops on use of model outputs
VACS Southern Eastern African Climate
Predictability Workshop (July 2006)
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Capacity Building
Accomplishments

• With partners, facilitate participation of
  early-career scientists in particular from
  developing countries in workshops/conferences,
  e.g.
• SPARC General Assembly (53 sponsored students/32
  from developing countries)
• ENSO Summer School, Hawaii, US,
• June 2008
• ClimEco Training Seminar, Brest, France
• April 2008
• SOLAS biannual summer school (2003 )
• Ice Sheet modeling school

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Lessons Learned

• Much WCRP success arises from facilitation,
  largely through the core
• projects, of community workshops/conferences
  and activities to build
• consensus on programs and implementation plans
  to address key issues
• and challenges in climate science
• Activities with targeted, short-term
  deliverables, set within a broader
• strategic framework, resonate with scientists
  and funding agencies and
• are highly successful in focusing efforts and
  resources and advancing
• understanding
• Project Offices (IPOs) are critical for making
  things happen, and leverage
• significant resources from individual countries
• Progress can be hampered when activity leaders
  have too many other
• commitments engaging young scientists who can
  make their careers in
• leadership roles can be very effective

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Lessons Learned

• The WCRP core projects play a key role
  supporting regional efforts, but
• also in coordinating such efforts (so that the
  whole is greater than the
• sum of the parts)
• Scientific information is most useful when
  scientists work directly with users
• WCRP is the most important global organization
  supporting fundamental
• climate science, in growing partnerships with
  other international programs,
• as is necessary to tackle challenging
  interdisciplinary Earth System science
• questions
• As the climate-information for climate risk
  management agenda advances,
• WCRP is and should remain the primary research
  partner to ensure the
• scientific base and rigor for a Climate Service
  System, as well as the
• innovator for improved products and quality of
  information

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Conclusions

• WCRP has a great opportunity (with attendant
  challenges) to build on its 30 years of
  successful legacy by staying focused on the
  forefront of climate system research for the rest
  of this century
• WCRP must promote and enable the timely use of
  climate information and knowledge it generates
  for decision-making through its partnerships with
  providers and users of such information
• The greatest challenge for WCRP is to demonstrate
  the value of its global and regional scientific
  coordination and integration efforts to sponsors,
  donors, and the participant scientists and
  organizations that support its Projects and
  activities