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

Perspective on Aircraft in the Stratosphere: 50 Years from COMESA through the Ozone Hole to Climate. By A.F. Tuck in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Effective vertical diffusion by atmospheric gravity waves. By H.-L. Liu in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Unprecedented Observations of a Nascent in Situ Cirrus in the Tropical Tropopause Layer. By I. Reinares Martínez et al. in the Geophysical Research Letters.

The Berkeley Earth Land/Ocean Temperature Record. By R.A. Rohde and Z. Hausfather in Earth System Science Data.

The Energy Modeling Forum (EMF)-30 study on short-lived climate forcers: introduction and overview. By S.J. Smith et al. in Climatic Change.

The World Climate Research Program (WCRP) is moving towards a new programme structure in an era where we urgently require solutions to the challenges of climate change.

In December 2020, the Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), with strong support from the leadership of all major WCRP activities, made the decision to move towards a new programme structure. This move represents a major development in the history of WCRP, reflecting its evolution from 40 years of successful fundamental climate research into an era where we urgently require solutions to climate challenges in order to address the impacts of climate change on society and all life on Earth.

The new WCRP structure has been developed by the WCRP community to support the implementation of the WCRP Strategic Plan 2018 – 2028, which addresses the climate research priorities of the next decade and beyond. It was specifically designed with the recognition that many of the challenges that we will face in the future can only be solved in partnership with other programs, each bringing in its own expertise and value.

Continue reading (WCRP webpage)

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

Indian monsoon derailed by a North Atlantic wavetrain. By P.J. Borah et al. in Science.

Representing model uncertainty in multi‐annual predictions. By D.J. Befort, C.H. O’Reilly, and A. Weisheimer in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Impact of Lagrangian transport on lower-stratospheric transport timescales in a climate model. By E.J. Charlesworth et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Tropospheric ozone variability over Hong Kong based on recent 20‐year (2000–2019) ozonesonde observation. By Z. Liao et al., in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Dating hiatuses: a statistical model of the recent slowdown in global warming and the next one. By J.I. Miller and K. Nam in Earth System Dynamics.

Comparison of Major Sudden Stratospheric Warming Impacts on the Mid-Latitude Mesosphere Based on Local Microwave Radiometer CO Observations in 2018 and 2019. By Y. Shi et al. in Remote Sensing.

Drivers of Upper Atmosphere Climate Change. By Sarah Stanley, EOS; with reference to I. Cnossen, Analysis and Attribution of Climate Change in the Upper Atmosphere From 1950 to 2015 Simulated by WACCM‐X, JGR: Space Physics.

WCRP/SPARC congratulates the 2020 winners of the WCRP/WWRP International Prize for Model Development, Dr Hella Garny (DLR, Germany), and the WCRP/GCOS International Data Prize, Drs Laia Comas-Bru (University of Reading, UK) and Lijing Cheng (IAP, China).

Read more

Two new job openings are available in the WCRP Secretariat:

• Science Officer (P3) : To know more, click here
  Deadline for application : 23 December 2020
• Science and Communications Officer (P3): To know more, click here
  Deadline for application: 22 December 2020

For questions or additional queries please contact

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

Impact of Lagrangian transport on lower-stratospheric transport timescales in a climate model. By E.J. Charlesworth et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Pollution trace gas distributions and their transport in the Asian monsoon upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere during the StratoClim campaign 2017. By S. Johansson et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Role of equatorial waves and convective gravity waves in the 2015/16 quasi-biennial oscillation disruption. By M.-J. Kang, H.-Y. Chun, and R.R. Garcia in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

50 years of balloon-borne ozone profile measurements at Uccle, Belgium: short history, scientific relevance and achievements in understanding the vertical ozone distribution. By R. Van Maleren et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Infrequent, Rapid Transport Pathways to the Summer North American Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere. By X. Wang, W. Randel, and W. Yutian in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Discussion papers – open for comment:

A multi-sensor satellite-based archive of the largest SO2 volcanic eruptions since 2006. By P.-Y. Tournigand et al. in Earth System Science Data.

Starting with January 2021, EUMETSAT will restart their series of open, online short courses on data discovery for weather, oceanography, air quality and climate which ran successfully over the autumn months.

The events are open to all and address a wide range of attendees, from service providers to young (and less young) scientists and forecasters. Each event includes a webinar on Zoom, including a demonstration of data discovery and application. The courses are a great opportunity to both explore the data and engage in discussion with EUMETSAT experts and colleagues.

Find webpage for information on the schedule, registration and the course pages are available at