The covid-19 pandemic is more acute than ever, and unfortunately the probability is high that it will not have passed before the end of 2021.

It has therefore been decided to postpone the 2021 SPARC Gravity Wave Symposium, originally scheduled to be end of September 2021, by half a year to March 28th – April 1st 2022, starting on the morning of March 28th and departing after lunch Friday April 1st. The meeting will thus be back-to-back with the EGU assembly that will be held in Vienna in the following week. The conference site of the now 2022 SPARC Gravity Wave Symposium is located in the medieval center of the vibrant city of Frankfurt.

This SPARC symposium is a continuation of a series of successful similar GW meetings lead-organized by Kevin Hamilton, Joan Alexander, Kaoru Sato, Fuqing Zhang and others over the past couple of decades. The tentative title of the next year’s symposium will be “Atmospheric gravity waves: towards a next-generation representation in weather and climate models”. Research on all aspects of atmospheric gravity waves, including newly emerging topics, will be welcomed but some particular emphases will be given to measurements, simulations, and numerical and theoretical developments, especially those confronting, challenging, and advancing the present-day treatment of gravity waves in atmospheric models.

The web site of the meeting (with information on travel and lodging to be placed there in due time) is www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/87102642/Symposium

Limited travel-support funds for early-career scientists will be available. Those concerned will be asked to submit an informal application together with an abstract of the work they want to present.

A 2nd announcement will be circulated in June 2021. Colleagues and friends are asked for their understanding for the decision for the postponement, which has not been made light-heartedly.

Co-conveners: Ulrich Achatz, Joan Alexander, Kaoru Sato, Laura Holt, and Riwal Plougonven Meeting secretary: Aurelia Müller

We look forward to your participation in 2022.

Ulrich, Joan, Kaoru, Laura, and Riwal

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

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

Sudden Stratospheric Warmings. By M.P. Baldwin et al. in the Reviews of Geophysics.

Strong day-to-day variability of the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL) in August 2016 at the Himalayan foothills. By S. Hanumanthu et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Tropical temperature variability in the UTLS: New insights from GPS radio occultation observations. By B. Scherllin-Pirscher et al. in the Journal of the Climate.

Clouds, radiation, and atmospheric circulation in the present‐day climate and under climate change. By A. Voigt et al. in WIREs Climate Change.

Discussion papers – open for comment:

Reanalysis intercomparison of potential vorticity and potential-vorticity-based diagnostics. By L.F. Millan, G.L. Manney, and Z.D. Lawrence in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The Impact of Volcanic Eruptions of Different Magnitude on Stratospheric Water Vapour in the Tropics. By C.A. Kroll et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Smoke-charged vortices in the stratosphere generated by wildfires and their behaviour in both hemispheres: comparing Australia 2020 to Canada 2017. By H. Lestrelin et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

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

 

Sensitivity of the Southern Hemisphere circumpolar jet response to Antarctic ozone depletion: prescribed versus interactive chemistry. By S. Haase et al. in Atmospheric Cemistry and Physics.

Skewness of Temperature Data Implies an Abrupt Change in the Climate System Between 1985 and 1991. By A. Skelton, N. Kirchner, and I. Kockum in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Zonal asymmetry of the QBO temperature signal in the tropical tropopause region. By S. Tegtmeier et al. in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Increase in Lower Stratospheric Water Vapor in the Past 100 Years Related to Tropical Atlantic Warming. By F. Xie et al. in the Geophysical Research Letters.

 

Discussion papers – open for comment:

Overview and update of the SPARC Data Initiative: Comparison of stratospheric composition measurements from satellite limb sounders. By M.I. Hegglin et al. in Earth System Science Data.

Indicators of Antarctic ozone depletion: 1979 to 2019. By G.E. Bodeker and S. Kremser in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.