Abstract submission deadline: 11 March 2016
Registration deadline: 22 April 2016

The Large-Scale Atmospheric Circulation: Confronting Model Biases and Uncovering Mechanisms

Persistent biases in forecast and climate prediction systems hinder our ability to model circulation changes, both in seasonal forecasting and in climate projections.

SPARC Dynvar has established a set of diagnostics (DynVarMIP, endorsed by CMIP6) to enable a mechanistic approach to confront model biases and understand the underlying causes behind circulation changes.

This workshop is an action to launch this effort and reinforce connections between the modeling centers involved in DynVarMIP and the wider research community. As atmospheric reanalyses provide a vital connection between models and the real Earth, we will meet jointly with a subset of the SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP) focused on the Brewer-Dobson Circulation and the Stratospheric-Tropospheric Coupling.

Presentations are called for analysis of seasonal prediction, CMIP, and idealized models on:

• The origin and consequences of systematic models biases in the context of atmospheric dynamics; with a focus on: tropical – extratropical connections, storm tracks, polar vortex and sea ice variability.
• The role of atmospheric dynamics in shaping the climate response to anthropogenic forcing (e.g. global warming, ozone depletion).
• How dynamical processes contribute to uncertainty in climate prediction at seasonal and decadal time scales.

The workshop will provide a forum for:

• Discussion on how best analyze the CMIP6 diagnostics that will be available via DynVarMIP, which targets the DECK experiments (AMIP, abrupt4xCO2 and 1pctCO2), the CMIP6 historical and the ScenarioMIP RCP8.5 experiments, as well as selected experiments within VolMIP, AeroChemMIP, and HiResMIP, where there is natural overlap in scientific interest.
• Explore the possibility of coordinated idealized experiments on dynamical processes

Invited Speakers and Discussion Leaders will introduce presentation topics and stir discussion.

DynVar is a working group of the Stratosphere-troposphere Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC) Project.

SPARC is a core project of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP).

We thank the Finnish Meteorological Institute for hosting the workshop and anticipate that limited funding will be available to support the attendance of early career scientists.

DynVar Conveners: Ed Gerber, Alexey Karpechko and Elisa Manzini

Meeting website

DynVar website

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

Use of North American and European air quality networks to evaluate global chemistry–climate modeling of surface ozone. By J.L. Schnell et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The GOME-type Total Ozone Essential Climate Variable (GTO-ECV) data record from the ESA Climate Change Initiative. By M. Coldewey-Egbers et al. in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques.

Global OZone Chemistry And Related trace gas Data records for the Stratosphere (GOZCARDS): methodology and sample results with a focus on HCl, H₂O, and O₃. By L. Froidevaux et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Is a high-altitude meteorological analysis necessary to simulate thermosphere-stratosphere coupling? By D.E. Siskind et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Multi-Sensor Profiling of a Concentric Gravity Wave Event Propagating from the Troposphere to the Ionosphere. By I. Azeem et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Variability in Antarctic ozone loss in the last decade (2004–2013): high-resolution simulations compared to Aura MLS observations. By J. Kuttipurath et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Observational evidence of strengthening of the Brewer-Dobson circulation since 1980. By Q. Fu et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Inter-model diversity in jet stream changes and its relation to Arctic climate in CMIP5. By Y. Yim et al. in Climate Dynamics.

A decomposition of ENSO’s impacts on the northern winter stratosphere: competing effect of SST forcing in the tropical Indian Ocean. By J. Rao and R. Ren in Climate Dynamics.

Discussion papers – open for comment

Transport across the tropical tropopause layer and convection. By A.-S. Tissier and B. Legras in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Using beryllium-7 to assess cross-tropopause transport in global models. By H. Liu et al in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Transport pathways from the Asian monsoon anticyclone to the stratosphere. By H. Garny and W. J. Randel in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Water vapour variability in the high-latitude upper troposphere – Part 2: Impact of volcanic emissions. By C.E. Sioris et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Improved simulation of tropospheric ozone by a global-multi-regional two-way coupling model system. By Y.-Y. Yan et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

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

Observational evidence of the influence of Antarctic stratospheric ozone variability on middle atmosphere dynamics. By N. Venkateswara Rao et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Convective Transport of Trace Species Observed During the Stratosphere-Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport 2008 Experiment (START08). By L.W. Siu et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation (TBO) indistinguishable from white noise. By M.F. Stuecker et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Signal of Central Pacific El Niño in the Southern Hemispheric stratosphere during austral spring. By C. Yang et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Sustainable early-career networks. By F. Rauser et al. in Nature Geoscience.

Effect of tropical cyclones on the tropical tropopause parameters observed using COSMIC GPS RO data. By S. Ravindra Babu et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Comparing the impacts of tropical SST variability and polar stratospheric ozone loss on the Southern Ocean westerly winds. By D.P. Schneider et al. in the Journal of Climate.

Discussion papers – open for comment

The vertical distribution of volcanic SO₂ plumes measured by IASI. By E. Carboni et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

The millennium water vapour drop in chemistry-climate model simulations. By S. Brinkop et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Stratospheric ozone change and related climate impacts over 1850–2100 as modelled by the ACCMIP ensemble. By F. Iglesias-Suarez et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Dear colleagues,

We would like to bring to your attention a SPARC workshop on "Stratospheric Change and its Role in Climate Prediction (SHARP)" to be held from 16-19 February 2016 in Berlin, Germany.

The SPARC-SHARP workshop aims at addressing relevant issues of stratospheric change, the interaction between atmospheric chemistry and climate change, and the implications for climate and weather in observations and model studies.

The workshop will be organized around four major topics:

1. How is the Brewer-Dobson circulation affected by climate change, and which processes are relevant?
2. How is the evolution of stratospheric ozone affected by climate change, and how strong is the feedback?
3. How is stratospheric water vapour affected by climate change, and which processes are responsible?
4. How is the coupling between the stratosphere and troposphere affected by climate change, and how strong is the feedback on climate and weather?

More detailed information on the scientific program, abstract submission, and registration check the official workshop website: http://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/en/met/sharp/news/1st-Announcement-on-SPARC-Workshop.html.

We look forward to welcoming you in Berlin!

Sincerely,
Ulrike Langematz (FUB)

on behalf of the SPARC-SHARP Scientific Organizing Committee:

John P. Burrows (U Bremen)
Martin Dameris (DLR)
Gabriele Stiller (KIT)
Neil Harris (SPARC)
Mark Weber (U Bremen)
Hauke Schmidt (MPI Met)
Harald Bönisch (U Frankfurt)
Patrick Jöckel (DLR)

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

A Match-based approach to the estimation of polar stratospheric ozone loss using Aura Microwave Limb Sounder observations. By N.J. livesey et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Estimate of carbonyl sulfide tropical oceanic surface fluxes using aura tropospheric emission spectrometer observations. By L. Kuai et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

A minor sudden stratospheric warming with a major impact: Transport and polar processing in the 2014/2015 Arctic winter. By G.L. Manney et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Can a coupled meteorology–chemistry model reproduce the historical trend in aerosol direct radiative effects over the Northern Hemisphere? By J. Xing et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Past changes in the vertical distribution of ozone – Part 3: Analysis and interpretation of trends. By N.R.P. Harris et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Ensemble data assimilation of total column ozone using a coupled meteorology–chemistry model and its impact on the structure of Typhoon Nabi (2005). By S. Lim et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Atmospheric impact of Arctic sea ice loss in a coupled ocean-atmosphere simulation. By R.E. Petrie et al. in the Journal of Climate.

Linear trends and closures of 10-year observations of AIRS stratospheric channels. By F. Pan et al. in the Journal of Climate.

Discussion papers – open for comment

Global and zonal tropospheric ozone variations from 2003–2011 as seen by SCIAMACHY. By F. Ebojie et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

The latitudinal structure of recent changes in the boreal Brewer–Dobson circulation. By C. Shi et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Abstract submission deadline: 2 October 2015
Registration deadline: 9 October 2015

We would like to announce a SPARC regional workshop on "Chemical and Physical Processes in the Climate System". The workshop will be held at NCAR in Boulder, CO from Nov 9-10 (directly followed by the SPARC SSG meeting on Nov 10-13).

The purpose of this workshop is to highlight SPARC-related science themes in the Colorado front-range region, and to promote interaction among a broad scale of local and international researchers. The local workshop will focus on 3 SPARC scientific themes:

1) Atmospheric Dynamics and Predictability

2) Chemistry and Climate

3) Long-term records for Climate Understanding

Abstracts are due on Oct. 2nd, and registration is due on Oct. 9th. Early career scientists are especially encouraged to participate.

The website is: https://www2.acom.ucar.edu/sparc.

Hope to see you there!

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

Stratospheric ozone in boreal fire plumes – the 2013 smoke season over central Europe. By T. Trickl et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Trajectory mapping of middle atmospheric water vapor by a mini network of NDACC instruments. By M. Lainer et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Is there a solar signal in lower stratospheric water vapour? By T. Schieferdecker et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Dust aerosol feedback on the Indian summer monsoon: Sensitivity to absorption property. By S. Das et al. in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Bi-modal Distribution of Free Tropospheric Ozone over the Tropical Western Pacific Revealed by Airborne Observations. By L.L. Pan et al. in Geophysical Research Letters.

Consistent response of Indian summer monsoon to Middle East dust in observations and simulations. By Q. Jin et al. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Capturing and sharing our collective expertise on climate data: the CHARMe project. By D. Clifford et al. in the Bulletin of the American Meteorology Society.

Stratospheric variability of wave activity and parameters in equatorial coastal and tropical sites during the West African monsoon. By P. Kafando et al. in Climate Dynamics.

Discussion papers – open for comment

Equatorial middle atmospheric chemical composition changes during sudden stratospheric warming events. By O. Nath and S. Sridharan in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions.

Find the SPARC bulletin 9/2015 that is sent by email every two months.

Registration deadline extended to 16 September 2015

The CLIVAR Research Focus on Decadal Climate Variability and Predictability (DCVP) is organising a workshop on this theme at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy on 16-20 November 2015. An outline agenda is available on the workshop website, based on the confirmed speakers so far.

The registration has been extended to 16th September there have been funds from the PAGES Project awarded recently to support the participation of scientists from the paleoscience community.

The agenda (oral and poster) will be updated later in September, once the submitted abstracts have been reviewed.