WCRP Corner

The current version comprises reported observations on glacier changes up until the observation period 2011/12 including:
- 5,300 glaciological balances from 413 glaciers (partly including ELA, AAR, seasonal and elevation bin balances, and point observations),
- 920 geodetic balances from 446 glaciers,
- 44,000 front variations from 2,340 glaciers, and
- 420 special event reports from 295 glaciers.

For a detailed overview and quick data access, please use the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) MetaData Browser: http://www.wgms.ch/metadatabrowser.html

All data and information is freely available for scientific and educational purposes. The use only requires correct citation of the WGMS and/or the original investigators and sponsoring agencies according to the available meta-information.

WGMS work relies on the cooperation and help of many scientists and observers throughout the world. WGMS highly appreciates their long lasting contribution in collaboration with National Correspondents, who are coordinating the annual data collection in more than 30 countries for submission to the WGMS. Special thanks go to Paul Leclercq (Univ. Oslo and Univ. Utrecht) and Graham Cogley (Trent Univ.) for supporting the integration of their datasets.

The Norwegian Polar Institute is pleased to announce the version 2 of “Quantarctica”, public-domain GIS package for Antarctica. Both the full package and the update-only package from version 1 are downloadable at:
http://www.quantarctica.org/downloads/
 
if you want to learn Quantarctica in one minute, here is a YouTube video for the version 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HV_VbxKKDM
 
Since its first release one year ago, there is a growing community of Quantarctica users. Quantarctica is a package of Antarctic continent-wide datasets optimized for the use on free GIS software QGIS. It currently includes ADD-based maps, continent-wide mosaics and high-resolution satellite imagery, and  glaciology/geophysics data; here is a list of data included in the package:
http://www.quantarctica.org/downloads/

We use universal color to help people who have color vision deficiency. End users can modify the package freely; many people use it as the base of their own project GIS package.
 
The Quantarctica package includes QGIS software for Windows, but QGIS also supports MacOS X, Linux, and Android, and the distributed data package and project file are supposed to work on these platforms as well. We tested only on Windows, but heard from users that it works fine on MacOS X and Linux.
 
We appreciate all data contributors to Quantarctica. When you use Quantarctica, please look the meta data page (double click the layer, and go to the meta data tab), and appropriately cite the original reference of a specific dataset that you refer. And we are really happy if you mention Quantarctica in your publications/presentations.

For more information, please contact Kenichi Matsuoka.

- a request from our sponsor, WCRP, and their Working Group on Regional Climate

The WCRP Working Group on Regional Climate is soliciting input for a survey that examines past and potential future use of climate model outputs from the CMIP5 archive and related sources. The information collected will be made freely available and can be used to inform next steps in facilitating use of the CMIP5 archive and planning CMIP6 and other activities.

CMIP5 has provided an important source of information underlying both the WGI and WGII reports of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, as well as a much wider range of studies on physical climate science and vulnerability, impacts and adaptation (VIA) studies. While the physical climate science (WGI) community has been surveyed about CMIP5 as part of the preparations for CMIP6 (see http://www.wcrp-climate.org/index.php/wgcm-cmip/wgcm-cmip6), the VIA community has not yet had an opportunity to provide input. Thus we have designed this survey from the perspective of the VIA community in order to ensure that your voice is heard. It is being co-ordinated as part of the activities of the WCRP Working Group on Regional Climate (WGRC http://www.wcrp-climate.org/index.php/regional-climate).

We will produce a summary report of responses and will use our linkages into various working groups, workshops and other fora (including CMIP Panel and WCRP Working Group on Climate Modelling activities, and even some national activities), so that your views can be considered and discussed alongside those of other users. Your responses will also be very valuable for WGRC activities.

In order to feed into a number of activities happening in the autumn, we would like to receive your response by 30 September at the latest. If provided, your contact details will be kept confidential, and no individuals will be identifiable in the summary report.

This is the link to the survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1nEzlrhJRO61zdodYU6SFl15IAhe1sTeGUWX-bCTy5tU/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link

We would like as many people as possible to undertake the survey, so please circulate it widely around your networks.

With many thanks for your help in what we consider to be an important endeavour, and best wishes from Clare Goodess, Linda Mearns, Richard Moss, Tim Carter, Bruce Hewitson, Kendra Gotangco and Roberta Boscolo