Due to increasing concerns with regard to the weather and climate of the Polar Regions, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has established a ten year Polar Prediction Project (PPP) under the auspices of the WMO World Weather Research Programme (WWRP). One of the main PPP activities will be the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) in order to enable a significant improvement in the environmental prediction capabilities for the Polar Regions, and beyond. The core period of YOPP will entail intensive observation and modelling campaigns in both the Arctic and the Antarctic, scheduled from mid-2017 to mid-2019.
The Special Observation Periods (SPOs) planned are:
- 1 February–31 March 2018 in the Arctic;
- 1 July–30 September 2018 in the Arctic; and
- 16 November 2018 to 15 February 2019 in the Antarctic.
A fourth observing period in the Arctic is also under consideration in winter-spring 2020, to complement the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC)—the first year-round expedition into the central Arctic, that will provide a quantum leap in our understanding of critical Arctic processes, and their representation in weather and climate models.
The Polar Prediction Project requests your participation and support. If you are interested in participating in these SPOs you can find more information and contact details on the YOPP webpages. Deadline: 20 February 2017.
YOPP is a major initiative of WWRP. It is being planned and coordinated by a Planning Group comprising of the PPP Steering Group, together with the representatives from partners and other initiatives, including the World Climate Research Programme Polar Climate Predictability Initiative (PCPI).