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

Atmospheric blocking as a traffic jam in the jet stream. By N. Nakamuraand C.S.Y. Huang in Science.

Trends of atmospheric circulation during singular hot days in Europe. By Aglaé Jézéquel et al. in the Environmental Research Letters.

A comparison of the momentum budget in reanalysis datasets during sudden stratospheric warming events. By P. Martineau et al in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

“The Interaction Between Deep Convection and Easterly Wave Activity over Africa: Convective Transitions and Mechanisms”. By A. Mekonnen, and W.B. Rossow in the Monthly Weather Review.

Interannual variability in the gravity wave drag – vertical coupling and possible climate links. By P. Šácha, J. Miksovsky, and P. Pisoft in Earth System Dynamics.

Influence of blocking on Northern European and Western Russian heatwaves in large climate model ensembles. By N. Schaller et al in the Environmental Research Letters.

Tropospheric jet response to Antarctic ozone depletion: An update with Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) models. By S-W Son et al in the Environmental Research Letters

The Excitation of Secondary Gravity Waves from Body Forces: Theory and Observation. By S.L. Vadas et al in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Numerical Modeling of the Excitation, Propagation, and Dissipation of Primary and Secondary Gravity Waves during Wintertime at McMurdo Station in the Antarctic. By S.L. Vadas and E. Becker in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Discussion papers open for comment:

Long-range transport of volcanic aerosol from the 2010 Merapi tropical eruption to Antarctica. By X. Wue, S. Griessbach, and L. Hoffmann in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions

The ERA-NET Consortium AXIS (Assessment of Cross(X)-sectoral climate Impacts and pathways for Sustainable transformation) was created to promote cross-boundary, cross-community research with the overall goal to improve coherence, integration and robustness of climate impact research and connect it to societal needs. AXIS aims to overcome boundaries between science communities through promoting inter- or transdisciplinary research projects.

AXIS announces the launch of a Joint Transnational Call for proposals on 9 of April 2018 (17:00 CEST). It will be supported by at least 10 funding organisations from 9 European countries and co-funded by the European Commission (under Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement reference 776608). The call will have an indicative budget of 15 – 17 Mio. € to support international research projects of a duration of up to 3 years.

The AXIS joint call is structured into three interlinked themes:

1. Cross-sectoral and cross-scale climate change impact assessments

2. Integration of biophysical climate change impact estimates with economic models

3. Developing pathways to achieve the long-term objectives of the Paris Agreement, taking into account interactions with SDGs closely linked to SDG 13 (“climate action”).

Submission deadline pre-registrations:  18 June 2018, 17:00 CEST
Submission deadline full proposals:       8 October 2018, 17:00 CEST

Find the call for proposals as PDF

Find the PDF version of the announcement

For more information, please visit the JPI Climate Activities AXIS

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

A new index for the wintertime southern hemispheric split jet. By S. Babian, J. Grieger, and U. Cubasch in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

On The Identification of Ozone Recovery. By K.A. Stone, S. Solomon, and D.E. Kinnison in the Geophysical Research Letters.

The Stratosphere and Its Role in Tropical Teleconnections. By S. Osprey, M- Geller, and S. Yoden in Earth and Space Science News.

A novel method for the extraction of local gravity wave parameters from gridded three-dimensional data: description, validation, and application. By L. Schoon and C. Zülicke in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Stratospheric Injection of Brominated Very Short‐Lived Substances: Aircraft Observations in the Western Pacific and Representation in Global Models. By P.A. Wales et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Recent decline in extratropical lower stratospheric ozone attributed to circulation changes. Ba K. Wargan et al. in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Discussion papers open for comment:

Lagrangian simulation of ice particles and resulting dehydration in the polar winter stratosphere. By I. Tritscher et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

The World Climate Research Programme is soliciting offers to host an International Project Office (IPO) to coordinate its cryospheric activities from 1st January 2019 onward.

Prospective host institutions and sponsoring organizations are invited to view and download the full call for hosting the CliC IPO from

https://www.wcrp-climate.org/news/wcrp-news/1319-call-for-expressions-of-interest-to-host-the-wcrp-international-project-office-for-the-climate-and-cryosphere

Letters of intent to host the CliC IPO should be sent to Dr Mike Sparrow () by 1st September 2018. 

Background information: 

The Climate and Cryosphere Core Project (CliC) of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) serves as the focal point for climate science related to the cryosphere, its variability and change, and interaction with the broader climate system.

All WCRP IPOs, including CliC, will play a paramount role in refining and implementing WCRP’s upcoming 2019-2029 strategy, including their own strategic contributions to the programme.

CliC activities have resulted in a wealth of cutting-edge research, valuable data products, and innovative use of models to project changes in the Polar Regions and other frozen areas globally.

Past host institutions of the CliC office have consistently benefited from elevated international exposure as well as increased leverage in national and international funding and partnership opportunities. The CliC International Project Office can act as a focus for cryosphere research in its host institution and country and through its network, infrastructure and expertise, can facilitate international research collaboration.

The registration deadline for the upcoming Tri-MIP-Athlon workshop is 18 May 2018.

The Tri-MIP-Athlon workshop a Joint AerChemMIP / RFMIP / PDRMIP Workshop in Support of CMIP6.

Dates: 11-15 June 2018

Venue: University of Reading, Reading, UK

Theme: New Science opportunities from CMIP6 multi-model forcing response experiments.

Find more information on the conference webpage or in the third announcement.

IGAC’s Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report (TOAR) is being published as a series of papers in the peer-reviewed, open-access journal, Elementa:  Science of the Anthropocene.   The papers are appearing in a Special Feature of Elementa as they are accepted for publication, with the latest paper, TOAR-Climate available this month:

Previous assessments of tropospheric ozone and its importance as a greenhouse gas have primarily focused on the processes that control ozone on the regional and global scale. In contrast, TOAR-Climate (Gaudel et al., 2018) assesses tropospheric ozone’s observed global distribution and trends from the mid-1970s to 2016, with the goal of providing a wide range of in situ and remotely sensed ozone observations for quantifying the tropospheric ozone burden and to evaluate the global atmospheric chemistry models that estimate ozone’s present and future radiative forcing.  The analyses utilize TOAR’s unique Surface Ozone Database as well as free tropospheric ozone observations collected from ozonesondes, commercial aircraft and ground-based remote sensing instruments.  The ozone distribution and trends are presented regionally, and the paper concludes with the first intercomparison of the global tropospheric ozone burden, as measured by multiple satellite instruments.

Gaudel, A, et al. 2018. Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report: Present-day distribution and trends of tropospheric ozone relevant to climate and global atmospheric chemistry model evaluation. Elem Sci Anth, 6: 39. DOI: https://www.elementascience.org/articles/10.1525/elementa.291/

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

A Method to Determine Gravity Wave Net Momentum Flux, Propagation Direction and “Real” Wavelengths: a GPS Radio Occultations Soundings Case Study. By P. Alexander, T. Schmidt, and A. de la Torre in Earth and Space Science.

Transport variability of very short‐lived substances from the West Indian Ocean to the stratosphere. By A. Fiehn et al. in the Journal of geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

A statistical study of inertia gravity waves in the lower stratosphere over the Arctic region based on radiosonde observations. By K.M. Huang et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmosphers.

Sensitivity of the Brewer–Dobson Circulation and Polar Vortex Variability to Parameterized Nonorographic Gravity Wave Drag in a High-Resolution Atmospheric Model. By I. Polichtchouk et al. in the Journal of the Amtospheric Sciences.

Radiative effects of ozone waves on the Northern Hemisphere polar vortex and its modulation by the QBO. By V. Silverman et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Impact of the ozone monitoring instrument row anomaly on the long-term record of aerosol products. By O. Torres et al. in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques.

Systematic Errors in Weather and Climate Models: Nature, Origins, and Ways Forward. By A. Zadra et al. in the Bulletin of the American Metaorological Society.

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

Differences in Vertical Structure of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation Associated with the Quasi‐Biennial Oscillation. By H.H. Hendon and S. Abhik in the Geophysical Research Letters

Long‐term variation in the mixing fraction of tropospheric and stratospheric air masses in the upper tropical tropopause layer. By Y. Inai in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Mixing and ageing in the polar lower stratosphere in winter 2015–2016. By J. Krause et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Discussion papers – open for comment

A rescued dataset of sub-daily meteorological observations for Europe and the southern Mediterranean region, 1877–2012. By L. Ashcroft et al. in Earth System Science Data Discussions.

An updated version of a gap-free monthly mean zonal mean ozone database. By B. Hassler et al. in Earth System Science Data Discussions.

Lidar temperature series in the middle atmosphere as a reference data set. Part B: Assessment of temperature observations from MLS/Aura and SABER/TIMED satellites. By R. Wing et al. in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions.

In the context of WCRP’s new Strategy and Implementation Plan  currently being developed, the programme is inviting (self-)nominations for membership in the following six of its expert panels:

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

Synoptic-scale zonal available potential energy increases in the Northern Hemisphere. By K.A. Bowley E.H. Atallah, and J.R. Gyakum in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

Stratospheric aerosol radiative forcing simulated by the chemistry climate model EMAC using aerosol CCI satellite data. By C. Brühl et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Historical Tropospheric and Stratospheric Ozone Radiative Forcing Using the CMIP6 Database. By R. Checa‐Garcia et al. in the Geophysical Research Letters.

GRACILE: a comprehensive climatology of atmospheric gravity wave parameters based on satellite limb soundings. By M. Ern et al. in Earth System Science Data.

A systematic wavelet-based exploratory analysis of climatic variables. By M. Gallegati in Climatic Change.

Multidecadal fluctuation of the wintertime Arctic Oscillation pattern and its implication. By H. Gong et al. in the Journal of Climate.

The early 20th century warming: Anomalies, causes, and consequences. By G.C. Hegerl et al. in Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change.