WCRP Open Science Conference: Climate Research in Service to Society

Vision
A better understanding of the behaviour of the climate system and its interactions with other Earth system components is critical to predict its future evolution, reduce vulnerability to high-impact weather and climate events, and sustain life. This need is perhaps greater than ever before given that humans have emerged as the dominant agent of future change. Progress will require, moreover, an increasingly holistic approach across scientific disciplines, as well as an unprecedented commitment to the development of a diverse and talented future workforce.

To advance its attack on such challenges, the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) will assemble for the first time ever its affiliated  research community, and engage other key international research programmes, in a major Open Science Conference (OSC) in October 2011. Through a unique synthesis of presented research findings, the OSC will assess our current state of knowledge on climate variability and change, identify the most urgent scientific issues and research challenges, and ascertain how WCRP can best facilitate research and develop partnerships critical for progress.

Anticipated Outcomes
The WCRP OSC represents an exclusive opportunity to assemble the international scientific community working to advance understanding and prediction of variability and change of the Earth’s physical climate system on all space and time scales. The OSC will facilitate cross-cooperation across the diverse research communities within WCRP, as well as with other international research programmes, including the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP), the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) and DIVERSITAS. Such an active dialogue and discussion among international environmental change research communities is required to understand past climate changes and the current state of the climate system; to determine how, when, and where climate change may occur and what its effects will be on other components of the Earth system; and to identify opportunities for humans to mitigate and adapt to these changes.

The OSC will:

• Appraise the current state of climate science, thereby making a measurable scientific contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC);
• Identify key opportunities and challenges in observations, modelling and analysis;
• Advance process research required to understand and predict responses of the Earth as a system, thus helping chart the path forward over the ensuing decades.

By entraining as many young scientists and students as possible from across the world, including less-developed and developing countries, the OSC will facilitate growth of the diverse future workforce needed to meet the increasingly complex scientific challenges of the future.

International Organizing Committee
Jim Hurrell, Chair, NCAR, USA
Ghassem Asrar, WCRP, Geneva, Switzerland
Sandrine Bony, LMD/IPSL, Paris, France
Antonio Busalacchi, ESSIC, Uni. Maryland, USA
Christian Jakob, Monash Uni., Australia
Rik Leemans, ESSP Chair, Netherlands
Jerry Meehl, NCAR, USA
Teruyuki Nakajima, Uni. Tokyo, Japan
Carlos Nobre, IGBP SC Chair, Brazil
Ted Shepherd, Uni. Toronto, Canada
Julia Slingo, MetOffice, UK
Koni Steffen, Uni. Colorado, USA
Kevin Trenberth, NCAR, USA
Carolina Vera, Uni. Buenos Aires, Argentina
Martin Visbeck, IfM-GEOMAR, Germany


Program Description
The conference is organized by devoting each day to a major science theme that reflects an integrative aspect of the WCRP programme. Specifically, each day will include plenary presentations from both established and early-career experts on challenges and advances addressing major, cross-cutting issues.

The work of individual scientists will be featured through daily and interactive poster sessions – an integral and major aspect of the OSC. Each day will also include two or three parallel sessions. These sessions will feature both oral and poster-oral presentations on major, integrative scientific topics. The OSC will conclude with plenary discussions focusing on outstanding challenges and the future pathway of the WCRP.

Daily Conference Themes

1. The Climate System Components and their Interactions
2. Observation and Analysis of the Climate System
3. Improving Predictive Capabilities
4. Climate Impact Assessments
5. Challenges and the Future

For more information please contact:
Conference Secretariat
Phone: +1 202 419 3471
Fax : + 1 202 223 3064
E-mail: info.conf2011@wcrp-climate.org**
or visit the conference webpage: www.wcrp-climate.org/conference2011


WCRP: Scientific Knowledge for Climate Adaptation, Mitigation and Risk Management

Roberta Boscolo
World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
7bis Avenue de la Paix
CP 2300
1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland
Tel. +41 22 730 8055
Fax +41 22 730 8036
email: rboscolo@wmo.int
web: http://wcrp.wmo.int