Phase 1 GlacierMIP paper published: A model intercomparison of global-scale glacier mass-balance models and projections
 Projected time series of glacier evolution 2015-2100 for 19 regions
--GlacierMIP is a CliC Targeted Activity and part of the WCRP Grand Challenge on Melting Ice and Global Consequences
Citation: HOCK, R., BLISS, A., MARZEION, B., GIESEN, R., HIRABAYASHI, Y., HUSS, M., . . . SLANGEN, A. (2019). GlacierMIP – A model intercomparison of global-scale glacier mass-balance models and projections. Journal of Glaciology, 65(251), 453-467. doi:10.1017/jog.2019.22
Global-scale 21st-century glacier mass change projections from six published global glacier models are systematically compared as part of the Glacier Model Intercomparison Project. In total 214 projections of annual glacier mass and area forced by 25 General Circulation Models (GCMs) and four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) emission scenarios and aggregated into 19 glacier regions are considered. Global mass loss of all glaciers (outside the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets) by 2100 relative to 2015 averaged over all model runs varies from 18 ± 7% (RCP2.6) to 36 ± 11% (RCP8.5) corresponding to 94 ± 25 and 200 ± 44 mm sea-level equivalent (SLE), respectively. Regional relative mass changes by 2100 correlate linearly with relative area changes. For RCP8.5 three models project global rates of mass loss (multi-GCM means) of >3 mm SLE per year towards the end of the century. Projections vary considerably between regions, and also among the glacier models. Global glacier mass changes per degree global air temperature rise tend to increase with more pronounced warming indicating that mass-balance sensitivities to temperature change are not constant. Differences in glacier mass projections among the models are attributed to differences in model physics, calibration and downscaling procedures, initial ice volumes and varying ensembles of forcing GCMs.
[Press Release]
[GlacierMIP Website]
[GlacierMIP Paper]
Sea-ice algal phenology in a warmer Arctic
 Latitudinal changes in sea-ice annual gross primary production.
--The lead author, L. Tedesco is a member of BEPSII (Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at the Sea-Ice Interfaces) funded by CliC/IASC/SOLAS/SCAR.
Citation: L. Tedesco, M. Vichi, E. Scoccimarro, Sea-ice algal phenology in a warmer Arctic. Sci. Adv. 5, eaav4830 (2019)
The Arctic Ocean covers only about 3% of the global ocean areas but it is responsible for up to 14% of the global oceanic carbon uptake. This makes it an important sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. As sea ice is rapidly declining in the Arctic Ocean, the ecological consequences of its decline, including changes in the carbon cycle, are still largely unknown.
Tedesco et al. (2019, Science Advances) show that the warming of the Arctic Ocean might advance the timing and overall increase the magnitude of primary production provided by algae living in sea ice. However, both the changes in timing (i.e., phenological) and the magnitude vary greatly between latitudes depending on what driving factor (i.e., snow thinning, ice season shortening, more favorable insulation) play a stronger role. It might be challenging for the other organisms in the food web to adjust to the projected changes in algal timing.
If grazers would not be able to take advantage of the earlier availability of high‐quality ice algal food, they might not be able to reproduce. On the other hand, if grazers would be able to adjust their timing of growth to that of sea-ice algae, our study shows that there might have more food available than previously thought. In both cases there will be consequences on fish species feeding on these grazers, and thus on fish stocks available for human consumption, as well as for whales, seals and polar bears. If there won’t be enough preys available at the right time, the survival of some sea-ice dependent top predators could be at risk.
[Press Release]
[Paper] |
PCPI participation in the AntClim21workshop ‘CMIP6 21st Century projections and predictions for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean’, June 26-28, 2019, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK
--Contributed by Julie Jones
 The aim of this workshop was to help ensure that the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate science communities make a significant contribution to the IPCC 6th Assessment Report (AR6), an aim which fits well with that of PCPI. CliC funded the attendance of four PCPI members at this workshop: Lettie Roach and Marisol Osman (both ECRs and new members of PCPI), and Marilyn Raphael and Julie Jones. PCPI member Gareth Marshall also attended the workshop. Marilyn presented results from her work on Antarctic sea ice representation in a CMIP6 model, Marisol on ‘Revision of the contribution of external forcings to the Southern Annular Mode trend, and Lettie on ‘The influence of nonlinear physical processes on the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice’. Marisol also chaired the introduction to the poster presentations.
The meeting was also an opportunity for the new and established PCPI members to meet in person, and they had a productive meeting to develop ideas for future PCPI activities.
9th International Workshop on Sea Ice Modelling, Data Assimilation and Verification, June 17-19, 2019, Bremen, Germany
--Contributed by Frank Kauker
 A joint workshop of the International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG), the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP – the flagship activity of the Polar Prediction Project by the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP)), GODAE Oceanview (GOV) and the Coordination & Support Action KEPLER by the European Commission was organized on June 17-19, 2019 hosted by the Alfred Wegener Institute at “Haus der Wissenschaften” in Bremen, Germany.
The workshop builds on a series of successful workshops organized by the IICWG Data Assimilation Working Group to advance international capabilities for automated sea ice analysis and prediction on time scales from hours to a season. The focus of the workshop is to discuss cross-cutting issues in sea ice modelling and data assimilation and how deficiencies of current systems can be more efficiently diagnosed and addressed.
General topics considered appropriate for this workshop include (i) sea ice data assimilation (methods and results), (ii) sea ice observations and uncertainties, (iii) sea ice model parametrizations and coupling to ocean and atmosphere models, (iv) verification approaches for sea ice analyses and forecasts, (v) automated prediction systems. The workshop, as the precursors of the last years, was organized around presentations with ample time for discussion (30min) and a poster session. Altogether 65 people participated in the work shop and listened to 37 talks and looked at 20 posters. As in the years before the oral presentations and posters stimulated intensive discussions in the audience. One participant working on seasonal sea ice predictions summarized the workshop: “This workshop is a platform to discuss all ingredients necessary for my work from in-situ and remotely sensed observations to modelling development and advancement in data assimilation techniques”.
CliC sponsored the workshop through granting travel support. The next work shop in this series, the 10th, is scheduled for autumn 2020.
Webpage: All information can be found as well on the workshop webpage.
BEPSII Workshop on Inter-comparison of 1D sea-ice biogeochemical models, May 15-17, 2019, Paris, France
--BEPSII is a CliC/SCAR/SOLAS/IASC activity
--Contributed by Letizia Tedesco
 The BEPSII WS was held at LOCEAN, Paris on 15-17 of May 2019 and aimed to finalize BEPSII Task 3.3, i.e. the inter-comparison of 1-D sea-ice biogeochemical models. During the morning of the first day of the WS, every modelling group gave their updates on their modelling configurations and interests in the inter-comparison. Available time-series to serve the inter-comparison were once again discussed: the Resolute time series (Canadian Arctic, Mortenson et al., 2017, Elementa) and the N-ICE refrozen lead time-series (Svalbard area, Duarte et al., 2016, JGR) and model results already achieved were presented by each group. Issues (scientific and technical) and scientific goals were discussed and plenty of hands-on session led everyone to finalize most of the runs by the end of the workshop. The WS closed Day 3 afternoon by setting a new roadmap (first, skype call in June 2019), defining a table of content for a collaborative paper (to be submitted for the special issue of Annals of Glaciology for the IGS on Sea Ice) and setting a tentative timeline to write the draft (November and December 2019) and present the work at the IGS Symposium on Sea Ice in August 2019 in Winnipeg, Canada.
Participants on site:
Letizia Tedesco (SYKE, Finland)
Martin Vancoppenolle (LOCEAN, France)
Giulia Castellani (AWI, Germany)
Pedro Duarte (NPI, Norway)
Meibing Jin (University of Alaska Faibanks, USA)
Erik Mortenson (University of Sidney, Australia)
Participants via videoconference:
Nadja Steiner (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
Benjamin Saenz (Standford University, USA)
CliC co-sponsor of the ESA Living Planet Symposium 2019, May 13-17, 2019, Milan, Italy
--From the LPS19 website
 The event, held every three years, took place on 13–17 May 2019 at the MiCo Milano Congressi in Milan, Italy. The Symposium was organised with the support of the Italian Space Agency. CliC was one of the many co-sponsors of the event. Attracting thousands of scientists and data users, ESA's Living Planet Symposia are amongst the biggest Earth observation conferences in the world. The event did not only see scientists present their latest findings on Earth's environment and climate derived from satellite data, but also focused on Earth observation's role in building a sustainable future and a resilient society. Participants were also able to explore how emerging technologies are revolutionising the use of Earth observation, creating new opportunities for public and private sector interactions, and how business and the economy can benefit from this new epoch.
Read more about LPS19 here.
 40th Session of the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC), May 6-10, 2019, Geneva, Switzerland
--From the June 2019 WCRP Newsletter
The 40th Session of the WCRP JSC brought together over 80 attendees, including the WCRP JSC, the chairs and leaders of the WCRP Core Projects and activities, international project office directors and staff, WCRP Joint Planning Staff, WCRP sponsor representatives, and selected partners and guests.
One of the main tasks of the Session was to seek community input into the implementation of the WCRP Strategic Plan, following on from the Implementation and Transition Meeting (see article above). In addition, a number of strategic issues were discussed, such as the future of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), WCRP regional activities, the future of the CCl/WCRP/JCOMM Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) and the fast-emerging topics of machine learning and data mining. This was followed by two days of updates from WCRP Core Projects and activities and briefings from a number of WCRP's key partners.
On Wednesday 8 May, the World Meteorological Organization and WCRP jointly organized a Public Science Lecture, which included a lecture by Professor Thomas Stocker on "The Climate of Tomorrow: Building the Knowledge for Earth Stewardship" and panel discussions.
On the last day, the JSC elected from among its members three Officers who will be tasked with supporting the Chair and Vice-Chair in their duties. The elected officers are Pascale Braconnot, Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen, and James (Jim) Hurrell. Congratulations to each of you and thank you for your commitment to WCRP.
CliC Co-Chair James Renwick, Melting Ice and Global Consequences Grand Challenge Chair Tim Naish, and CliC Executive Officer Gwenaelle Hamon participated in the meeting.
WCRP Implementation and Transition Meeting, May 4-5, 2019, Geneva, Switzerland
--From the June 2019 WCRP Newsletter
This first meeting of the WCRP Community to discuss the implementation of the WCRP Strategic Plan 2019–2028 was attended by representatives drawn from across the WCRP community. Participants were tasked with developing and agreeing on the process of production of a WCRP Implementation Plan and the transition to a new structure of operating within WCRP. Outcomes of the meeting were reported to the subsequent JSC Session (see above). CliC Co-Chair James Renwick and Melting Ice and Global Consequences Grand Challenge Chair Tim Naish participated in the meeting. Read more about the meeting here.
Arctic Subarctic Ocean Flux (ASOF) study meeting, April 24-26, 2019, Copenhagen, Denmark
--Contributed by Michael Karcher
The yearly Arctic Subarctic Ocean Flux (ASOF) study meeting on 24 -26 April 2019, co-sponsored by CliC, was hosted at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) in Copenhagen, jointly with the H2020 project 'Blue-Action' which is coordinated at DMI. The focus topics for this year's meeting were:
 1. Representativeness of ocean observations: A recurring issue in the analysis and interpretation of observational data, as well in the use of these data for model validation and data assimilation, is how their representativeness in space and time are dealt with. This issue is of particular relevance for in-situ data such as oceanic measurements from profiling devices or time series data from mooring locations. We particularly welcomed submissions dealing with questions related to representativeness and uncertainties in observations, what these mean for the observational analysis as well as the usefulness of the data in modelling, and ways forward in resolving those issues in particular in regions of sparse data coverage.
2. Flux calculations: We had fostered a discussion the problems related to the usefulness/ambiguity of heat- and freshwaterflux calculations across single gateways. Can we agree on a way forward?
We had 45 participants joining the meeting, with 34 presentations. In addition to presentations and discussion on the two focus topics we had numerous contributions on core ASOF topics, such as reports on the current status of the gateway moorings, new insights into the dynamics of ocean circulation and exchange between the basins, as well as Ocean-Sea Ice interaction. We gratefully acknowledge the travel support for three early career scientists by CliC, Stefanie Semper from the University of Bergen, Norway, Myriel Horn from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar Research, Germany, and Marylou Athanase from L'OCEAN at the Université Sorbonne, France. In addition, thanks to the 'Blue Action' project, two experts on data representativeness in the context of data assimilation and ocean climatologies could be invited, An Nguyen from the University of Texas Austin, USA, and Viktor Gouretsky from the Institute for Atmospheric Physics, Beijing, China.
The agenda and the presentations can be found online here.
ESM-SnowMIP Meeting at EGU2019, April 11, 2019, Vienna, Austria
--Contributed by Richard Essery
A meeting to discuss ESM-SnowMIP was held on April 11 during EGU 2019, with 20 people in attendance. Richard Essery, Gerhard Krinner and Hyungjun Kim presented progress and plans.
Simulations for 10 reference sites have been submitted by 27 models and 2 ensembles driven with in situ data, and 22 models driven by bias-corrected global data.
An overview paper has been published. A paper documenting the reference site driving and evaluation data is in review, and the data are freely available. Work is now in progress to interpret the results for non-forested sites led by Cécile Ménard, for forested sites led by Paul Bartlett, and for large-scale forcing at reference sites led by Richard Essery.
Global coupled simulations for CMIP6 and global uncoupled simulations for LS3MIP are now underway in major modelling centres. Because of the high demands of these simulations, the requests for additional constrained ESM-SnowMIP simulations will be delayed until they are complete. It has been decided that the SnowMIP-rmLC prescribed snow experiment should be performed in coupled land-atmosphere configurations to avoid extreme hydrological impacts on circulation in coupled land-atmosphere-ocean models.
Additional site simulations can be performed at much lower cost by a wider range of models. A decision will be made whether to prioritise constrained simulations (prescribed constant snow albedo, prescribed neutral exchange coefficient, no soil insulation) or additional reference sites (to include more challenging ice sheet, tundra and prairie locations) in the next round of experiments.
ISMIP6 workshop at EGU2019, April 10, 2019, Vienna, Austria
--Contributed by Heiko Goelzer
The Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for CMIP6 (ISMIP6) brings together a consortium of international ice sheet models and coupled ice sheet-climate models to fully explore the sea level rise contribution from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. In this workshop we discuss first results from projections with standalone ice sheet models and coupled climate-ice sheet models.
Participants: Helene Seroussi, Heiko Goelzer, and Ayako Abe Ouchi from the ISMIP6 Scientific Steering Committee, ~25 modellers and other interested people.
Helene Seroussi opened with a short, general introduction on ISMIP6 to include people that were not familiar with the project. Then Heiko Goelzer presented some
preliminary results from his Greenland model for all the models/scenarios currently available as a teaser for expected results. Afterwards was plenty
of time to address general and specific questions from the audience and present modellers. The most important points discussed were:
- Some modellers asked for more and more regular updates, e.g. when new data becomes available and when files on the ftp change. The contacts identified
per expression of interest should be included in regular updates on what is going on. The estimation is that at this moment more emails to those people is better than less.
- In turn, a lack of clarity on who is doing what at the moment was identified. Demand for more communication in both directions is therefore an important conclusion of this meeting.
- Versioning and full transparency when files change/move on the ftp was seen as a crucial aspect for the tight schedule everybody is operating with now.
- An estimate in the room of how many groups will try to submit results by the 1 June deadline was ~10 for Greenland and ~8 for Antarctica.
- It was often expressed that the deadline was very sharp and it seems that it may not be observed by many groups. It was made clear that it is possible to soften the deadline, but the goal is still to aim for it.
- Some questions came about the initial state vs 2014 starting point/ mini historical that could be resolved.
 The overall impression was that people are happy to contribute and have taken on the challenge to getting their models ready. It seems that only a few groups are relying on the initMIP state, while the rest try to re-initialise.
CliC Co-Chair James Renwick wins Science Communication Prize
--From WCRP website
On Tuesday 12 March, WCRP expert James Renwick has been awarded the New Zealand 2018 Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize. James is both a valued active member of the WCRP and WMO community as well as internationally recognized for his exemplary approach to science communication. Click here to learn more.
BEPSII Meeting and Poster, at the GRC on Polar Marine Science, March 18-23, 2019, Barga, Italy
--Contributed by Letizia Tedesco
 During the GRC on Polar Marine Science that was held at Il Ciocco Resort (Barga, Italy) on 18-23 of March, BEPSII SC members Letizia Tedesco and Klaus Meiners organized an open and informal BEPSII get-together for new and old members. About 15-20 people met over lunch on Wednesday on a sunny Tuscan terrace and continued discussing during a nice walk down the medieval village of Barga, where some of them also stopped in a cafe before returning back uphill to the conference site. The lunch and walk together gave the possibility to several people to meet for the first time, to get to know better what BEPSII is and does and to initialize new discussions and collaborations.
During the GRC also BEPSII representative Letizia Tedesco presented on Wednesday afternoon the BEPSII Intercomparison of 1D sea-ice biogeochemical models, one of the many BEPSII tasks. Besides supporting Letizia's participation to the GRC, CliC supports the intercomparison experiment by having funded an initial international workshop that was held at (SYKE) Helsinki in November 2017, and by co-founding the final international workshop that will be held in 15-17 of May at LOCEAN (Paris).
8th Session of the WCRP Data Advisory Council (WDAC-8), March 18-21, 2019, Marrakesh, Morocco
--From the WCRP website
The 8th session of the WCRP Data Advisory Council (WDAC) was hosted at the Es Saadi Marrakesh Resort, Marrakesh, Morocco on 18-21 March 2019, in conjunction with the GCOS-WCRP Joint Panels and the CEOS/CGMS WG Climate the same week (more details on the GCOS-WCRP Joint Panels here).
 The Council reviewed progress on important activities such as, but not limited to, data infrastructures, climate data set assessment, fluxes, reanalysis, impact of observations, and seek updates on observational and data requirements from WCRP core projects, modeling activities and sister programs. The session also considered major upcoming meetings, wider observations and data strategic questions, and linkages to climate services and associated key players in the context of the new WCRP Strategic Plan.
CliC SSG member Hiroyuki Enomoto represented CliC at the meeting.
The full report of WDAC8 is available here.
2018 WCRP CliC Annual Report
The 2018 WCRP-CliC Annual Report is available. The report gives an overview of our activities in 2018 and includes contributions from all of the CliC Projects/Groups Leads. CliC would like to thank all of the contributors to the Annual Report.
Table of Content
 Overview from the Co-Chairs
Scientific Steering Group (SSG) Members
The International Project Office
Report Format
WCRP Grand Challenge - Melting Ice and Global Consequences
-Contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
-Ice Sheet Modelling Intercomparison Project 6 (ISMIP6)
-Marine Ice Sheet Ocean Model Intercomparison Project (MISOMIP)
-Earth System Model - Snow Model Intercomparison Project (ESM-SnowMIP)
-Glacier Model Intercomparison Project (GlacierMIP)
-Sea Ice and Climate Modeling Forum / Diagnostic Sea Ice Model Intercomparison Project (SIMIP)
-Permafrost Carbon Network
Sea Ice
-Arctic Sea Ice Working Group (ASIWG)
-BEPSII - Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at Sea Ice Interfaces
-Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt)
Permafrost
-Permafrost Modeling Forum
Ice Sheets
-SCAR/IASC/CliC Ice Sheet Mass Balance and Sea Level (ISMASS)
Regional Activities
-CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR Southern Ocean Regional Panel
-CLIVAR/CliC Northern Oceans Region Panel
-Polar Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (Polar CORDEX)
Inter-disciplinary Activities
-WCRP Polar Climate Predictability Initiative (PCPI)
2018 CliC Meetings and Workshops
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