Climate research priorities for the next decade in North and Central America, the Caribbean and Greenland

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) leads the way in addressing frontier scientific questions about the coupled climate system — questions that are too large and too complex to be tackled by a single nation, agency, or scientific discipline. For almost 40 years WCRP has coordinated international climate research to advance our understanding of the climate system and how it is affected by human activities. The decades ahead will bring challenges that can only be addressed through a worldwide coordinated effort, involving co design and stakeholder engagement conducted by a prepared scientific workforce, to support mitigation strategies and adaptation planning.

This is one in a series of regional forums, where we will exchange ideas, discuss new activities and opportunities being developed by WCRP, and explore ways that our community of scientists, partner programs, funders, and end-users of our climate science can engage to meet these challenges.

This Forum will begin with an overview of WCRP from the Chair and Vice-Chair of the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (the scientific steering body of WCRP), Detlef Stammer and Helen Cleugh, followed by three invited talks on:

1. Perspectives on the role, benefits and science imperatives of the WCRP

• Climate information needs from a user/policy maker perspective. Roberto Sánchez Rodríguez, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico.
• Earth system observations for assessing climate-related risks. Susann Tegtmeier, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
• Advances and challenges in global and regional climate modeling. Andreas Prein, National Center for Atmospheric Research, United States.

This will be followed by a moderated discussion session that will include short presentations on:

2. Collaboration activities in the region

• The Precipitation Prediction Grand Challenge, Louis W. Uccellini, NOAA, National Weather Service, United States.
• Understanding and Predicting Water Futures in an Era of Global Change. John Pomeroy, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
• IAI’s strategic priorities in global change research, with a focus on climate and water. Anna Stewart, Executive Director, Inter American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI).
• The changing cryosphere in a warming climate, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and the Centre for Earth Observation Science, University of Manitoba, Canada.

The Forum is open to everyone and is free of charge. Download the flyer.