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

http://www.aparc-climate.org/publications/newsletter/sparc-newsletter-no-51/

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).

Analysis of the Initiation of an Extreme North Pacific Jet Retraction using Piecewise Tendency Diagnosis. By M. Breeden and J.E. Martin in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Lidar observations of stratospheric gravity waves from 2011 to 2015 at McMurdo (77.84 °S, 166.69°E), Antarctica: Part II. Potential energy densities, lognormal distributions, and seasonal variations. By X. Chu et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Limited angle tomography of mesoscale gravity waves by the infrared limb-sounder GLORIA. By I. Krisch et al in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques.

The impact of mountain waves on an idealized baroclinically unstable large-scale flow. By M.Q. Menchaca and D.R. Durran in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

The Role of Gravity Wave Drag Optimization in the Splitting of the Antarctic Vortex in the 2002 Sudden Stratospheric Warming. By G. Scheffler, M. Pulido, and C. Rodas in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Recent poleward shift of tropical cyclone formation linked to Hadley cell expansion. By S. Sharmila and K.J.E. Walsh in Nature: Climate Change

A Lagrangian model diagnosis of stratospheric contributions to tropical mid‐tropospheric air. By M. Tao et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

On the role of heterogeneous chemistry in ozone depletion and recovery. By C. Wilka et al. in the Geophysical Research Letters.

The IPCC Task Group on Data Support for Climate Change Assessments (TG-Data), formerly the Task Group on Data and Scenario Support for Impact and Climate Analysis (TGICA), is currently seeking nominations. TG-Data facilitates the distribution and application of climate change related data and scenarios to enable research and sharing of information across the three IPCC Working Groups. Please view the TG-Data terms of reference for full information.

If you are interested in being nominated by WCRP, please forward your nomination to by close of business on 31 July 2018. WCRP will forward all accepted nominations to IPCC, who will make the final selection. Please note that only successful nominations will be notified.

Registration is open to review the second order draft of the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (2019 Refinement). The 2019 Refinement is an update to the guidelines or methodologies that countries use to estimate their anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases. The refinement of the IPCC’s previous guidelines published in 2006 is necessary to provide an updated and sound scientific basis for supporting the preparation and continuous improvement of national greenhouse gas inventories.

IPCC reports go through multiple stages of review to ensure an objective and comprehensive assessment of the latest science. The first draft is reviewed by experts, the second draft by governments and experts and the final draft by governments only. The second draft of methodology report is reviewed alongside a first draft of the Overview Chapter.

The Co-Chairs of the IPCC’s Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI), Kiyoto Tanabe and Eduardo Calvo Buendia, stressed the importance of the review in the IPCC process. Therefore they invite governments and experts from all over the world to comment on the accuracy and completeness of the draft’s scientific information as well as its overall balance.

The preparation of the methodology report is managed by two Co-Chairs, coming from a developed and a developing country, and supported by an international staff known as Technical Support Unit.

The government and expert review will start on 2 July 2018 for a 10-week period. It will end at midnight Geneva time (GMT+2) on 9 September 2018. Review Editors will make sure that all comments submitted are afforded appropriate consideration by the authors of the report. All comments together with responses by the authors will be published along with the report when it is finalized.

Find registration page to become expert reviewer

Registration opens on 18 June and closes at midnight Geneva time (GMT+2) on 2 September 2018.

You will have access to the SOD after registration.

The 20th Conference on the Middle Atmosphere will occur at the upcoming AMS annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona from January 6-10, 2019.

Papers for this conference are solicited for the following topics:

• aerosols in the stratosphere;
• atmospheric reanalyses and long-term observational datasets for middle atmospheric studies;
• future observations of the middle atmosphere: needs and capabilities;
• impact of deep convection, volcanic eruptions and TTL processes on ozone and water vapor in the middle atmosphere;
• modeling, predictability and teleconnections of the quasi-biennial oscillation;
• transport and mixing in the upper troposphere and stratosphere;
• waves and circulation: connections across scales.

• connections between tropical convection and the stratosphere (joint with 7MJO);
• role of the stratosphere in climate variability, change, and prediction (Themed Joint Session) (joint with 32CVC);
• stratospheric ozone, chemistry, and climate (Themed Joint Session)  (joint with 32CVC and 21AtChem)
  • *Dr. Paul Newman will be a Core Science Keynote Speaker at the beginning of this session.
• and whole atmosphere coupling during extreme events (joint with 16SpaceWx).

Some confirmed invited speakers include Mike Fromm, Ed Gerber, Seok-woo Son, Joan Alexander, Guy Brasseur, Bill Randel, Michael Schwartz, Matt Hitchman, Daniela Domeisen, Brad Hall, Clara Orbe, Alvaro de la Camara, Katrina Bossert, Cora Randall, and Nick Pedatella.

Descriptions of these sessions can be found here: https://ams.confex.com/ams/2019Annual/webprogrampreliminary/20MIDDLE.html

Abstracts are due August 1st and can be submitted here:https://annual.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/2019/programs/conferences-and-symposia/20th-conference-on-middle-atmosphere/

Some travel funds for students are available, and there will be some cash awards for student presentations, so please encourage undergraduate and graduate students to apply.

If you have questions, please contact:

Amy Butler ()

Sean Davis ()

co-organizers of the Middle Atmosphere Meeting

The National Geographic Society (NGS) and Microsoft’s AI for Earth program are partnering to support the exploration of how AI can help us understand, engage, and protect the planet. The $1 million AI for Earth Innovation Grant will provide grants to 5-15 novel projects that improve the way we monitor, model, and ultimately manage Earth’s natural systems for a more sustainable future.

To qualify, applications should outline a proposal to use AI for conservation in at least multiple areas, including:

Climate change: Extreme weather events, rising sea levels, higher global temperatures, and increased ocean acidity threaten human health, infrastructure, and the natural systems we rely on for life itself. AI can help in areas like:

• Climate resilience
• Extreme weather and climate modeling
• Sustainable land-use change
• Ecosystem services (including carbon sequestration and afforestation/reforestation)

An example of the types of tools that the program is interested in supportingis:

Climate change: temperature and precipitation model downscaling, risk optimization

Find more information and details on the program webpage  

The deadline for the AI for Earth Innovation RFP is:  October 8, 2018 at 11:59 PM EST.

Timelines: Please note the RFP deadline and also the project timeline is different from other National Geographic grant programs. On the Eligibility Requirement popup, check the box for a 6 months later start date, so you can still access the Grants Portal. But in the application, input January 1, 2019 as your start date. Projects should be complete by December 31, 2019.

If you have further questions about the AI for Earth Innovation RFP, please email us at .

The Internation Science Council (ISC) project ‘Gender Gap in Science‘ is a global approach to addressing the gender gap in mathematical, computing, and natural sciences, looking at how to measure the gender gap and how to reduce it. If you are involved in these sciences at any level, including as a student, you are invited to share your career and education experiences before 31 October 2018.

Why is it important?

The project is collecting data via a survey to develop a broader picture of the status of mathematicians and scientists across the world. The data that you contribute will help inform interventions by ISC and member unions to increase participation, especially for women. A really nice summary of the project and survey can be found on the project website.

Survey link: Global Survey of Scientists

If you have questions, please contact John Tyler of the Statistical Research Center at the American Institute of Physics.

Dates: 25-28 March 2019
Place: Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona (Spain)

The workshop is jointly organized by the WCRP Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM) CMIP Panel and the European Commission Horizon 2020 projects PRIMAVERA (PRocess-based climate sIMulation: AdVances in high-resolution modelling and European climate Risk Assessment) and EUCP (EUropean Climate Prediction system).

Following the format of the WCRP CMIP5 model analysis workshop held in 2012, the workshop focus will be on:
• Multi-model CMIP6 analyses and evaluation that take advantage of the large suite of CMIP6 experiments
• Efforts to connect model development and analysis to identify Earth system model improvements that help reduce systematic biases and/or increase the realism of models
• Methods for multi-model analysis
• Climate change impacts
The workshop will be structured around the three scientific questions:

1. How does the Earth system respond to forcing?
2. What are the origins and consequences of systematic model biases?
3. How can we assess future climate change given climate variability, predictability, and uncertainty in scenarios?

Workshop approach: Short-presentation/poster format

The workshop will consist of a series of seven half-day sessions of three hours each. Each session will begin with 20-25 presenters given a 3-minute time slot to show no more than one slide summarizing the main conclusions of their poster. The rest of the half-day session will consist of viewing posters of that session. In addition, there will be a plenary talk each day.

Participation is limited by the size of the venue (~200 people) and format of the workshop. Abstracts will be accepted based on relevance to the workshop focus.

Timeline
• Abstract submission opens: 15 September 2018
• Abstract submission deadline: 15 November 2018
• Abstract / Participation acceptance: 15 December 2018

More information on the workshop will be made available at https://www.wcrp-climate.org/modelling-wgcm-meetings.

Hope to see you in Barcelona next year!

Best wishes,

Scientific Organizing Committee of the Workshop

Veronika Eyring, Greg Flato, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Jerry Meehl, Cath Senior, Ron Stouffer, and Karl Taylor (CMIP Panel), Francisco J. Doblas-Reyes (EUCP), Malcolm Roberts (PRIMAVERA)

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

Momentum Flux Spectra of a Mountain Wave Event Over New Zealand. By K. Bossert et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Extratropical atmospheric predictability from the Quasi‐Biennial Oscillation in subseasonal forecast models. By C.I. Garfinkel et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

The South Asian monsoon—pollution pump and purifier. By J. Lelieveld et al. in Science.

Statistical characteristics of gravity waves with near‐inertial frequencies in the Antarctic troposphere and lower stratosphere observed by the PANSY radar. By Y. Minamihara et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

The seasonal fingerprint of climate change. By W.J. Randel in Science.

Observing the tropical atmosphere in moisture space. By H. Schulz and B. Stevens in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

Discussion papers – open for comment:

The MIPAS/Envisat climatology (2002–2012) of polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) volume density profiles. By M. Höpfner et al. in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques.

The International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland, stands for excellence in  advanced studies contributing to a deeper understanding of the data from space missions, ground  based observations, and laboratory experiments. ISSI aims at adding values to those results through  multidisciplinary research. The Institute attracts more than 900 scientists each year in the framework  of international teams, workshops, working groups, forums or through individual visiting scientists.

The ISSI Board of Trustees advertises the position of

Executive Director

to succeed the former Executive Director Rafael Rodrigo who has been called to some high  governmental responsibilities in his country

Find full announcement

Application deadline is 30 September 2018.