 10 meter meteorological tower installed on the sea
Meteorological conditions in a thinner Arctic sea ice regime from winter to summer during the Norwegian Young Sea Ice expedition (N-ICE2015)
--Contributed by Lana Cohen, Norwegian Polar Institute
Citation: Cohen, L. et al. Meteorological conditions in a thinner Arctic sea ice regime from winter to summer during the Norwegian Young Sea Ice expedition (N-ICE2015), J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 122, doi:10.1002/2016JD026034.
The Arctic is changing rapidly. Sea ice extent and volume is decreasing, the melt season is lengthening, and most of the Arctic now experiences seasonal rather than year-round sea ice coverage. However, much of our understanding of Arctic sea ice processes are from measurements made over the ‘old’ regime dominated by multi-year (thicker) ice as opposed to the first-year (thinner) ice. The Norwegian Young Sea Ice (N-ICE2015) expedition made measurements in the sea ice from winter to summer in the Atlantic (European) sector of the Arctic, a region that has experienced considerable changes in sea ice extent in recent decades, but where no comprehensive measurements had previously been carried out during winter months.
 Meteorological data collected from January-June 2015 Meteorological measurements made during N-ICE2015 recorded several large storms which warmed the atmosphere to near 0˚C (a change of over 30˚K). The warm temperatures were relatively short-lived, and the atmosphere rapidly returned to cold, calm conditions once the storm passed. However, the storms also brought considerable amounts of moisture which may produce longer term impacts on surface energy budget via clouds and precipitation (snow). The storms also had measurable impacts on ocean, sea ice, and biological systems.
While the frequency and strength of the winter storm events were unusual as compared to reanalysis climatology, the spring and early summer periods were more typical for the Arctic. These months were characterized by persistent low clouds which had a large impact on the surface energy budget and acted to warm the surface. Other features of the atmosphere during N-ICE2015 were similar to those experienced during SHEBA (1997-98), including frequent strong surface temperature inversions during winter. Two winter states (radiatively clear and opaquely cloudy) were clearly seen in the temperature and longwave radiation distributions during both SHEBA and N-ICE2015 indicating that this is a robust, Arctic-wide phenomenon.
Sea-level response to melting of Antarctic ice shelves on multi-centennial timescales
--Contributed by Frank Pattyn, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Citation: Pattyn, F.: Sea-level response to melting of Antarctic ice shelves on multi-centennial timescales with the fast Elementary Thermomechanical Ice Sheet model (f.ETISh v1.0), The Cryosphere, 11, 1851-1878, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-1851-2017, 2017.
 The magnitude of the Antarctic ice sheet’s contribution to global sea-level rise is dominated by the potential of its marine sectors to become unstable and collapse as a response to ocean (and atmospheric) forcing. This paper presents Antarctic sea-level response to sudden atmospheric and oceanic forcings on multi-centennial timescales with the newly developed fast Elementary Thermomechanical Ice Sheet(f.ETISh)model. We implemented improved grounding line physics (such as interaction with subglacial sediment and compared results to traditional sliding laws. We show that ice shelf collapse leads to a significant higher sea-level contribution (up to 16 m in 500 years) compared to traditional grounding-line approaches.
Recent regional climate cooling on the Antarctic Peninsula and associated impacts on the cryosphere
 Mean seasonal air temperature (MSAT) change between the decades 1996-2005 and 2006-2015, with the observed impacts on the cryosphere in the Antarctic Peninsula region. DCF=December-January-February.--Contributed by Francisco Navarro, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Citation: Oliva, M., Navarro, F., Hrbáček, F., Hernández, A., Nývlt, D., Pereira, P., Ruiz-Fernández, J. and Trigo, R. (2017). Recent regional climate cooling on the Antarctic Peninsula and associated impacts on the Cryosphere. Sci. Total Envir., 580, 210-223, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.030.
The Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is often described as a region with one of the largest warming trends on Earth since the 1950s, of 0.54 ºC/decade during 1951-2011 at Faraday/Vernadsky station. However, a recent analysis (Turner et al., 2016*) has shown that the regionally stacked temperature record for the last three decades has shifted from a warming trend of 0.32 ºC/decade during 1979-1997 to a cooling trend of –0.47 ºC/decade during 1999-2014.
While Turner et al. study focuses on the period 1979-2014, averaging the data over the entire AP region, we here update and re-assess the spatially-distributed temperature trends and inter-decadal variability from 1950 to 2015, using data from ten stations distributed across the AP region. We show that Faraday/Vernadsky warming trend is an extreme case, circa twice those of the long-term records from other parts of the northern AP. Our results also indicate that the cooling initiated in 1998/1999 has been most significant in the N and NE of the AP and the South Shetland Islands (> 0.5 ºC between the two last decades), modest in the Orkney Islands, and absent in the SW of the AP.
This recent cooling has already impacted the cryosphere in the northern AP, including slow-down of glacier recession, a shift to surface mass gains of the peripheral glaciers and a thinning of the active layer of permafrost in northern AP islands.
* Paper referenced in above abstract: Turner, J., Lu, H., White, I., King, J. C., Phillips, T., Scott Hosking, J. Bracegirdle, T. J., Marshall, G. J., Mulvaney, R., and Deb, P. (2016). Absence of 21st century warming on Antarctic Peninsula consistent with natural variability. Nature, 535, doi: 10.1038/nature18645.
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"Arctic and sub-Arctic ocean observations: where do we go?", ASOF wokshop in Sopot, March 2017
--Contributed by Michael Karcher, AWI, Germany
 The Arctic Subarctic Ocean Flux Study (ASOF) is an international program on the oceanography of the Arctic and Subarctic seas and their role in climate. The program was established in 2000 and run as an interest driven program since. The yearly workshops serve as fora for discussion and research planning. This year's meeting was hosted by the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Sopot, Poland from March 20-22.
The science theme for the meeting was "Arctic and sub-Arctic ocean observations: where do we go?", as new Arctic and sub-Arctic observational programs are upcoming, for example an Arctic observing system (e.g. INTAROS, AOS), high-latitude/mid-latitude interaction (e.g. APPLICATE, BLUE ACTION), prediction capabilities (e.g. YOPP, SIPN) or the drifting observatory MOSAIC, while some of the long-term programs have been canceled due to funding problems.
The workshop discussed questions such as how well the observational programs are suited to contribute to objectives of ASOF, the identification of gaps, the status of the integration of models and observations. Furthermore, research presentations were given on the freshwater and heat dynamics of the Arctic and Subarctic basins, the transports at the Arctic gateways, ice-ocean dynamics in fjords, new observational datasets, and a presentation and discussion of the new observation programs.
As an early career scientist, sponsored by CliC/APECS, following an application procedure, Mattia Almansi from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, gave a presentation on the variability of circulation and hydrography in Denmark Strait.
A discussion on the future activities of ASOF concluded with the decision to collaborate more with CliC, the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) and to liaise with the developing Northern Ocean Regional Panel (NORP) of CLIVAR and CliC.
A concrete result of the enhanced collaboration with CliC is the successful application for Norwegian Research Council funding of a joint CliC/ASOF workshop 'Climate Change at the Arctic Gateways' in Bergen in 2018. The focus of the workshop is the development of benchmark data sets of ice-ocean fluxes and associated processes at the gateways, to identify their role in Arctic change and to develop a reference dataset for model skill evaluation and improvement. The workshop will be a major step to write a full research proposal for the set-up of the database.
3rd Polar Educators International (PEI) Workshop, April 11-14, 2017, Rovereto, Italy
--Contributed by Sarah Bartholow, Polar Educators International
 The 3rd Polar Educators International (PEI) Workshop was held in Rovereto (Italy) in the Spring of 2017. The meeting brought together a total of 76 teachers, scientists and high school students from 12 countries worldwide. PEI (www.polareducator.org) is a vital international network of educators and researchers aiming to provide a deeper under-standing of current polar science. PEI represents trusted leaders working to inspire appreciation and knowledge of the polar regions, their connectedness to all Earth's systems, and importance to all humans across latitudes and cultures.
The program included presentations on polar research, education, and outreach from researchers and experts across many fields, as well as formal and informal educators. Presentations consisted of lectures, poster presentations, snap talks, and hands-on activities. PEI live-streamed the workshop, with archived recordings and materials available on the PEI website.
Gracious support for the meeting provided by CliC (Climate and Cryosphere) and other global partners including SCAR (Scientific Committee Antarctic Research), CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche), Liceo Fabio Filzi. (Rovereto, Trento), and IPRASE (Rovereto, Trento), Students on Ice, IASC (International Arctic Science Committee), AWI (Alfred Wegener Institute), APECS (Association of Polar Early Career Scientists) and DGP (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Polarforschung) among others.
MISOMIP Activities at the 31st Forum for Research into Ice Shelf Processess (FRISP) workshop, June 19-22, 2017, Bergen, Norway / Observing and Understanding the Ocean below Antarctic Sea Ice and Ice Shelves (OASIIS) workshop, June 14-17, 2017, Bremerhaven, Germany
--Contributed by Jordan Hisel and Denise Holland, New York University, USA
New York University graduate student, Ms. Jordan Hisel, was supported by CliC to attend two science meetings this past June. Both Meetings, the OASIIS in Bremerhaven and the FRISP in Bergen, focused on ice-ocean interactions, including presentations and discussion relevant to the CliC MISOMIP supported target activity.
The OASIIS meeting in Bremerhaven, Germany focused on past projects and future plans for observation and data collection in the Southern Ocean. As I became more and more familiar with the scope of the newly developed technologies discussed over the week, I found myself inspired by possibilities of tomorrow’s research. Witnessing the fundamentals I am currently learning expanded upon over decades into groundbreaking and relevant research was compelling and encouraging.
The FRISP meeting in Bergen, Norway covered recent research into the physics and mechanisms of ice-shelf processes. Brief lectures allowed researchers to share their new findings and pose relevant questions for future work.This was well complemented by poster board time, wherein researchers summarized their projects and discussed with colleagues. I found this part of the forum especially intriguing, as researchers were happy to answer any of my questions about their work, no matter how comparatively basic. I came away from the forum aware of many new processes I am excited to look into further, and with a broader understanding of the many different methods of researching ice-shelf interactions.
Permafrost Action Team Steering Committee Meeting, June 26, 2017, Fairbanks, AK, USA
--Contributed by Christina Schaedel, Northern Arizona University, USA
 The Steering Committee of the Permafrost Action Team met on June 26, 2017 in Fairbanks Alaska for a one day workshop. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss material needed for three different types of Knowledge Pyramids and to produce a short 2-page written brief that can be distributed to a wide variety of interested people. The short briefs provide scientific information on societally-relevant questions in formats usable by a variety of stakeholders, including policy- and decision-makers. During the workshop, we focused on these three top-level questions: 1) what is the impact of permafrost carbon release on climate change? 2) How does permafrost thaw impact infrastructure? 3) How will ecosystem services critical to human livelihood in the Arctic be affected by permafrost thaw? The second half of the workshop was dedicated to brainstorming new synthesis products that focus on issues involving infrastructure and ecosystem services in the permafrost zone.
Outcomes of this one day workshop are Knowledge Pyramids and science briefs that will be made available on the SEARCH website (https://www.arcus.org/search-program/arctic-answers).
Follow up activities of the Permafrost Action Team are quarterly phone calls with the Steering Committee and a one day all scientist meeting of the Permafrost Carbon Network the day before AGU (Sunday, December 10, 2017) in New Orleans, USA. This one day workshop at AGU will be the 7th annual meeting of the Permafrost Carbon Network.
ESA Polar Science Collocation Meeting, June 28-30, 2017, Frascati meeting
--Contributed by Gerhard, Krinner, CliC Co-chair/CNRS/LGGE, France
The ESA Polar Science Collocation Meeting took place at ESRIN Frascati between the 28th and 30th of June. More than 50 satellite remote sensing specialists met to discuss the status and prospects of satellite remote sensing in the polar regions, with a particular attention on ESA orientations for the coming years. CliC was represented by Gerhard Krinner. The meeting was organized in topical sessions on ice sheets (Greenland and Antarctica), sea ice, glaciers, snow, permafrost and cross-cutting pan-Arctic and polar initiatives; much time was provided for discussions. The need for continued exchange between the remote sensing and climate modeling communities was often stressed during the meeting; in this respect, the substantial ESA efforts to contribute to the Obs4MIPs initiative are extremely welcome. Naturally, some long-standing challenges for the remote-sensing and climate analysis/modelling communities, such as for example trustworth global datasets of seasonal snow water equivalent, remain elusive.
12th Session of the CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR Southern Ocean Region Panel, June 29-30, 2017, Boulder, CO, USA
--Contributed by Lei Han, International CLIVAR Project Office, China
 The 12th session of the CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR Southern Ocean Region Panel (SORP) was held on 29-30 June 2017 at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Foothills campus in Boulder, Colorado, USA. The meeting was held in conjunction with the 12th workshop on Antarctic Meteorology and Climate and the 2nd planning meeting of the Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere project (YOPP-SH). A joint YOPP-SH and SORP session was convened the morning of June 29 where enhanced collaboration between the two groups was discussed.
At the joint YOPP-SH and SORP session, the YOPP-SH mission of achieving a significant improvement in environmental prediction in-and-around the Southern Ocean was discussed. In this regard, it was recommended that work on high-quality coupled atmosphere-ocean reanalyses be continued as a priority. It was also agreed that an implementation plan for YOPP-SH be developed as soon as possible in order to establish what can be practically implemented on the given (short) time-frame, and what would be the best strategy to achieve maximum return for investment. SORP members were invited to contribute to the drafting of the implementation plan.
During the remainder of the SORP session, representatives of the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), Sea Ice Model Intercomparison project (SIMIP), Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO), the Southern Ocean State Estimation (SOSE), the “Polynyas, ice production, and seasonal evolution in the Ross Sea” (PIPERS), and the Northern Ocean Region Panel (NORP) reported on their groups’ latest activities and achievements. Enhancing links between SOOS and SORP was discussed extensively, with SOOS viewing SORP as a crucial partner. SORP was centrally involved in the development of SOOS objectives and scope. The SOOS and SORP objectives are complimentary, with SORP focusing on articulation of the observational data requirements required for understanding climate variability and predictability in the Southern Ocean, and SOOS focused on the design and implementation of an observing system to deliver said observations.
The SORP session also welcomed its newest members, David Bromwich (Chair of YOPP-SH) and Robin Robertson. At the SORP session it was agreed to establish five “Task teams” focused on: 1) Sea-ice and ice-shelf ocean-atmosphere interactions; 2) Climate variables for the Southern Ocean; 3) Ocean state estimates; 4) Ocean carbon; 5) Liaising with YOPP-SH. In addition, planning of a white paper, or position statement, related to needs for climate predictability in the Southern Ocean was initiated.
The 2nd Asian Conference on Permafrost (ACOP2017), July 2-6, 2017, Hokkaido Univerity, Sapporo, Japan
--Contributed by Yoshihiro Iijima, Mie University, Japan
 Local organizers: Mamoru Ishikawa (chair), Norikazu Matsuoka and Yoshihiro Iijima (vice-chairs) and 17 Local Organizing Committee members; 16 International Science Committee members.
Supporting agencies: IPA, CliC, Hokkaido University Arctic Research Center, and ArCS
The 2nd Asian Conference on Permafrost (ACOP2017) was held from 2 to 6 July at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. 178 participants from 17 countries (China, Japan, Russia, Norway, Canada, Mongolia, USA, Germany, France, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Indonesia and Slovenia) met in a pleasant climate of Sapporo. A total of 141 presentations (86 oral and 55 posters) covered a wide range of topics around the conference’s theme “needle ice to deep permafrost” with special emphasis on the current state of permafrost and frozen ground engineering in Asia.
Eight invited plenary speakers, including three early career researchers, presented state-of-the-art topics regarding the conference’s theme. Early career researchers actively participated in the conference activity organized by the Permafrost Young Research Network (PYRN), with 20 of them receiving financial assistance to attend the conference. A joint workshop on mapping initiative and GlobPermafrost held during the conference discussed current conditions and future collaboration on permafrost mapping and remote sensing. The conference organized pre- and post-conference field trips on the Daisetsu Mountains and the Tokachi plain in Hokkaido, the Artificial frozen soil wall in Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, and Mt. Fuji to learn both natural and engineering aspects of frozen ground in Japan.
International WCRP/IOC Conference 2017 - Regional Sea Level Changes and Coastal Impact, July 10-14, 2017, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA
 The WCRP, together with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), organized an international conference on sea level research that addressed the challenges of predicting regional sea level changes, and the need to quantify the uncertainties of this research field. The event came 11 years after the first WCRP sea level conference (Paris, 2006), and three years after the last Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The conference resulted in a comprehensive summary of the state of worldwide climate-related large scale sea level research. More than 350 Participants from 42 nations attended the five-day event held at Columbia University in New York. Conference participants, representing natural scientists, social scientists, coastal engineers, managers, and planners, discussed evidence indicating that sea-level rise represents a major challenge for coastal societies. Daily sessions were organised around thematic topics such as the role of ocean heat content, satellite capabilities, drivers in variability, and the latest modeling efforts and scenarios for the future. A statement signed by the participants is available on the conference website. http://sealevel2017.org/
International Workshop on Cryosphere Change and Sustainable Development, August 1-2, 2017, Lanzhou, China
--Contributed by Feiteng Wang, Lanzhou Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
 On August 1-2, 2017, an “International Workshop on Cryospheric Change and Sustainable Development”, was jointly organized by the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), IACS, CliC, ICIMOD, Beijing Normal University, Fudan University and Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of of CAS. The workshop took place at the State Key Laboratory of Cryospherice Science of CAS in Lanzhou.
More than 200 experts and scholars from over 10 countries, including China, the United States, Switzerland, Finland, Iceland, Nepal, Brazil, Mongolia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, attended the workshop. The event focused on current capabilities to model and assess cryosphere change, as well as mitigation and adaptability strategies to deal with a rapidly changing cryosphere, eco-social sustainability, and the role of the cryosphere in the earth’s future.
The workshop was organized around plenary sessions covering 4 highlight themes where 87 oral presentations were made and focussed on cryospheric processes and dynamics, attribution and impacts of cryospheric changes, mitigation and adaptive countermeasures on cryospheric changes, as well as cryosphere remote sensing and information integration. In order to encourage the participation of young scholars, IACS awarded prizes for 5 student participant presentations.
Finally, two field trips were organized following the conference.
Polar Prediction Matters launched on September 1st, 2017
--With contribution from Kirstin Werner (on behalf of the Polar Prediction Matters Team)
 What kind of information is needed by the captain of a vessel navigating polar waters? Our knowledge of what really matters at the end of the forecast chain is rather limited. In order to strengthen the dialogue between polar forecast providers and users, YOPP together with partners APPLICATE and BLUE ACTION are launching the Polar Prediction Matters dialogue platform.
Academic researchers and forecasters strive to develop and deliver polar environmental prediction products that can facilitate the decisions of those living and working in polar regions. What kind of information is needed by the captain of a vessel navigating polar waters, or by the pilot of an aircraft operating in Antarctica? Our knowledge of what really matters at the end of the forecast chain is rather limited. One important goal of the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) is to strengthen the dialogue between polar forecast providers and users, in order to guide research towards significantly improved and applied polar prediction capabilities in a way that is meaningful to the various stakeholder groups involved.
Polar Prediction Matters was launched on September 1st at https://blogs.helmholtz.de/polarpredictionmatters/ with the specific aim to foster the exchange between information users and experts on polar prediction. The platform is a means to collect and share individual insights by polar environmental forecast users. These user perspectives will be complemented with contributions by “providers”, such as natural scientists working at meteorological and sea-ice services and at universities, but also by social scientists trying to shed light on how forecast information and products are created, delivered, and utilised.
Polar Prediction Matters is launched with two short articles: The first contribution is a welcome statement by Helge Goessling, Director of the YOPP Coordination Office, introducing briefly the idea behind Polar Prediction Matters and what to expect from the format. In the second article, Uwe Pahl, who served as the master of a research icebreaker for almost two decades, provides his view on the role of environmental information in the practical planning and management of an ice passage.
Polar Prediction Matters is hosted by the Helmholtz Association Blogs and is maintained by the YOPP Coordination Office, the PPP-SERA subcommittee, and the EU-funded Horizon 2020 research consortia APPLICATE and BLUE ACTION. For any questions related to YOPP and Polar Prediction Matters, please contact .
Prof. Lynne Talley Receives IAPSO Medal
--With copntribution from www.clivar.org
 Lynne Talley, former SORP co-chair, Distinguished Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA is the Prince Albert I Medal recipient 2017, for her outstanding contribution to our knowledge of the global ocean's water masses, circulation, dynamics and role in climate.
Professor Talley is one of the world's foremost ocean scientists of the past 50 years, with seminal contributions to our understanding of all ocean basins, including landmark discoveries in the Pacific, Atlantic and Southern Oceans. She has been a leader in ocean observations for more than 30 years and was a driving force of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). While Professor Talley's core scientific interests have been in intermediate water formation, mode waters and circulation she has also made important contributions towards knowledge of ocean heat transport and fresh water fluxes. Recently her focus has been on the Southern Ocean and its connections with the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This work has produced a number of landmark analyses, not only of basic hydrography but also chemical tracers and dynamics of the potential vorticity field and of the global overturning circulation.
Professor Talley has made all these outstanding scientific advances while contributing an exceptional level of service to ocean sciences spanning four decades of academic and professional excellence; including teaching in the Scripps educational programme, mentoring, and services.
Nominations are now open for the WCRP/WWRP International Prize for Model Development and the WCRP/GCOS International Data Prize 2017
 WCRP/WWRP International Prize for Model Development 2017:
WCRP and the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) are seeking nominations for the International Prize for Model Development, awarded annually for an outstanding contribution to weather and climate model development by an early- to mid-career researcher. More details on eligibility, required nomination material and selection process can be found on the WCRP website.
WCRP/GCOS International Data Prize 2017:
WCRP and the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) are seeking nominations for the WCRP/GCOS International Data Prize. The prize will be awarded annually to an early- to mid-career researcher for his or her outstanding contribution to the Earth system science community. More details on eligibility, required nomination material and selection process can be found on the WCRP website.
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