With several new initiatives on the way, the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) continues to be a leader in expanding our understanding of climate and the Earth system.
The goals of these new initiatives, some launched in the past few years and some in the pipeline, are to empower countries with enhanced climate services and availability of climate information.
Core Projects like the Earth System Modelling and Observations (ESMO) and Regional Information for Society (RIfS), through its Coordinated Regional Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX), continue to focus on advancing climate modelling capabilities across the world using technologies such as high-performance computing, big data, and artificial intelligence. These projects bring together different modelling and prediction working groups like the Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM), the Working Group on Subseasonal to Interdecadal Prediction (WGSIP), and the Working Group on Numerical Experimentation (WGNE).
As the 6th phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) is scheduled to wrap up soon, plans are in full swing for phase 7. High-resolution climate modelling activities in CMIP7 both provide the scenario runs and enhance our overall understanding of climate change and the Earth system, contributing to upcoming IPCC Assessment Reports.
WCRP’s Lighthouse Activities Digital Earths and Explaining and Predicting Earth System Change (EPESC) work in leveraging cutting-edge technologies to co-develop high-resolution modelling capabilities, and to quantify the changes taking place in the Earth system.
Safe Landing Climates, another Lighthouse Activity of the WCRP, is also currently discussing two sets of coupled climate model experiments engaging protocols from TIPMIP, LUMIP, and ISMIP, that could potentially contribute to CMIP7, IPCC, and other international and national assessments.
All these initiatives will improve prediction capacities and will ultimately arm decision-makers with information that they need, rooted in scientific evidence.
Read more about the new initiatives here.