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

The IPCC and the new map of science and politics. By S. Beck and M. Mahoney in Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIREs) Climate Change.

Teleconnection stationarity, variability and trends of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) during the last millennium. By C. Dätwyler et al. in Climate Dynamics.

Momentum Flux of Convective Gravity Waves Derived from an Offline Gravity Wave Parameterization. Part II: Impacts on the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO). By M-J. Kang et al. in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN CLIMATE AND WEATHER. By S. Sandgathe et al. in the Bulletin of the American meteorological Society.

TPVTrack v1.0: A watershed segmentation and overlap correspondence method for tracking tropopause polar vortices. By N. Szapiro and S. Cavallo in Geoscientific Model Development.

The impact of boreal summer ENSO events on tropical lower stratospheric ozone. By O.V. Tweedy et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Discussion papers open for comment:

Response of Arctic ozone to sudden stratospheric warmings. By A. de la Cámara et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Comparison of Antarctic polar stratospheric cloud observations by ground-based and spaceborne lidars and relevance for Chemistry Climate Models. By M. Snels et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

There are only a few weeks left to comment on the WCRP Strategic Plan (deadline 31 August).

Further comments from all of you are welcome. Please share this opportunity with your colleagues and networks.

The WCRP Joint Scientific Cimmittee extends their thanks to those who have already taken the time to comment.

Why is the WCRP Strategic Plan important? See the statement below, which was released on the WCRP website.

—
The WCRP Strategic Plan: Climate Science for Society

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) is dedicated to international climate research. Our community has worked and debated over all aspects of climate science, resulting in the conclusion that yes, human activities are changing our climate and yes, although it will never be perfect, we can do a lot to predict how climate will change in the future. Now, as we near our 40th anniversary, society is no longer just talking about climate change, we are noticeably experiencing it. Society needs clear, concise and robust climate information to support wise adaptation and mitigation choices, to meet the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that will arise in our changing world.

The WCRP Strategic Plan 2019-2029 takes an integrated approach to climate research. We recognize that to successfully meet the needs of society there must be fundamental climate research and also research that is co-designed to meet the needs of policy and decision makers. An Earth System’s approach is central, with an enhanced focus on the availability of climate information across time scales of days to a century and spatial scales from local to global. It is imperative that we deliver well-coordinated field programs, innovative observing systems, state of the art analysis and prediction capabilities, advanced computational infrastructure and an open and fully inclusive platform for research design and information sharing. Strong partnerships across research communities, agencies, and other organizations are fundamental in the cost-effective use of research resources and in improving the usability and use of climate information.

If you have not read the WCRP Strategic Plan yet, please take the time to do so (link below). It is a short, 9-page document that sets out the vision, mission, and overarching objectives of the Programme as well as the bedrock science, termed ’emphases’, and tools and capabilities, termed ‘imperatives’, necessary to achieve these goals. Please note that the WCRP Strategic Plan addresses long-term, high-level goals. The possible new structure of WCRP and other detailed organizational issues are still under discussion and will be outlined in the WCRP Implementation Plan.

You can download the WCRP Strategic Plan and enter your comments online on the consultation webpage. Public consultation on the WCRP Strategic Plan will close on 31 August 2018. We thank you in advance for your comments.

Consultation website: www.wcrp-climate.org/wcrp-sp-pc

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

Physics–Dynamics Coupling in weather, climate and Earth system models: Challenges and recent progress. By M. Gross et al. in the Monthly Weather Review.

The Importance of a Properly Represented Stratosphere for Northern Hemisphere Surface Variability in the Atmosphere and the Ocean. By S. Haase et al. in the Journal of Climate.

Ensemble-based Atmospheric Reanalysis using a Global Coupled Atmosphere–Ocean GCM. By N. Komori et al. in the Monthly Weather Review.

Impact of a stochastic nonorographic gravity wave parameterization on the stratospheric dynamics of a General Circulation Model. By F. Serva et al. in the Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems.

Improving MJO simulation by enhancing the interaction between boundary layer convergence and lower tropospheric heating. By Y-M. Yang and B. Wang in Climate Dynamics.

Zonally asymmetric trends of winter total column ozone in the northern middle latitudes. By J. Zhang et al. in Climate Dynamics.

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

No robust evidence of future changes in major stratospheric sudden warmings: a multi-model assessment from CCMI. By B. Ayarzagüena et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Rossby wave breaking and isentropic stratosphere‐troposphere exchange in 1981–2015 in the Northern Hemisphere. By P. Jing and S. Banerjee in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Determination of Best Tropopause Definition for Convective Transport Studies. By E.M. Maddox and G.L. Mullendore in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

Ensemble sensitivity analysis of Greenland blocking in medium‐range forecasts. By T. Parker, T. Woollings, and Antje Weisheimer in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

Impact of Parametrized Nonorographic Gravity Wave Drag on Stratosphere‐Troposphere Coupling in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. By I. Polichtchouk, T.G. Shepherd, and N.J. Byrne in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Discussion papers open for comment:

Structural changes in the shallow and transition branch of the Brewer–Dobson circulation induced by El Niño. By M. Diallo et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The call for nominations to SPARC’s Scientific Steering Group (SSG) is now open. The SSG currently comprises 12 researchers from around the world with a wide range of expertise in atmospheric dynamics and chemistry. They guide SPARC’s priorities and activities, working together with the SSG co-chairs and the SPARC project office. SSG members should thus have a good overview of the SPARC Implementation plan and planning documents, the regional and international research agendas, and how SPARC’s priorities align with those of the new WCRP strategy.

The deadline for nominations is 15 September 2018.

Nominations can be submitted through the online form at

https://www.aparc-climate.org/about/leadership/ssg-nominations/
(including the upload of a publications list).

Please note that you can either nominate a candidate or nominate yourself.

The SSG takes a strategic view of SPARC’s role, so we are looking for individuals with a broad view of atmospheric science and climate change as well as expertise in their own field. Scientific expertise, career stage as well as gender and geographical balance are taken into account.

The initial term of service is for four years (January 2020 – December 2023), with a possible extension of two years.

If you are interested in getting involved in SPARC in other ways, including ideas for new foci, please visit the SPARC webpage for more information: www.sparc-climate.org/get-involved or contact the SPARC Office.

The SPARC (Stratosphere-Troposphere Processes and their Role in Climate) will be holding a 3-day workshop on atmospheric turbulence at the Leibnitz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Kühlungsborn, Germany, during the period November 6-8, 2018. The aim of this workshop is to discuss recent modeling and observational research on atmospheric turbulence, as well as applications.  There will be invited and contributed talks, as well as ample time for discussion.

The Science Organizing Committee for this workshop is:
Hye-Yeong Chun, Yonsei University, Korea
David Fritts, GATS, Inc., USA
Marvin Geller, Stony Brook University (emeritus), USA
Franz-Josef Lübken, Leibnitz Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Germany.

Confirmed invited speakers at the workshop to-date include:
Ulrich Achatz, Germany
Jorge Chau, Germany
Marvin Geller, USA
Masashi Kohma, Japan
Peter Love, Australia
Kusuma Rao, India
Richard Wilson, France.

We encourage all interested individuals to contact Marvin Geller at and express your interest in attending and whether you would like to contribute a paper by September 1, 2018.  We will be sending accommodations and logistics information to prospective attendees by September 15, 2018.  We will need proposed papers’ titles by October 1, 2018.  We will be circulating the planned workshop schedule by October 15, 2018.

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

Afro-Eurasian Intermediate-Frequency Teleconnection and Modulation by ENSO. By S. He et al. in the Journal of the Climate.

Impact of Convective Gravity Waves on the Tropical Middle Atmosphere During the Madden‐Julian Oscillation. By S. Kalisch, M.‐J. Kang, and H.‐Y. Chun in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

A Parameterization of Turbulent‐scale and Mesoscale Orographic Drag in a Global Atmospheric Model. By M.-S. Koo, H.-J. Choi, and J.-Y. Han in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Resolving Future Arctic/Midlatitude Weather Connections. By J.E. Overland and M. Wang in Earth’s Future.

Polar stratospheric cloud climatology based on CALIPSO spaceborne lidar measurements from 2006 to 2017. By M.C. Pitts, L.R. Poole, and R. Gonzalez in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Trapped Gravity Waves and their Association with Turbulence in a Large Thunderstorm Anvil during PECAN. By S.B. Trier and R.D. Sharman in the Monthly Weather Review.

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.