Newsletter of the Climate Variability and Predictability Programme ( CLIVAR )

VOCALS " C-130 Flight track overlaid on a MODIS satellite image. " " The Peruvian IMARPE R/V Jose Olaya " " The NSF C-130 flies by the NOAA Ronald H Brown underneath the stratocumulus during a research mission far off the Chilean coast on the 11th November 2008. Photo courtesy Cameron McNaughton, University of Hawaii " " Students from the Universidad de Arturo Prat, launch one of the four-times daily radiosondes from their shoreside campus in Iquique, Chile. Photo courtesy Carlye Calvin, UCAR " " The NSF/NCAR C-130 preparing for a night-time takeoff. Photo: Robert Wood " CLIVAR is an international research programme dealing with climate variability and predictability on timescales from months to centuries. A better understanding of the behaviour of the climate system and its interactions with other Earth system components is critical to predict its future evolution, reduce vulnerability to high impact weather and climate events, and sustain life. To prepare for meeting these challenges, the WCRP Open Science Conference provides a unique opportunity to bring together major disciplines and leaders of the Earth system research community to help identify opportunities to advance further understanding and prediction of variability and change in the Earth's climate system from seasons to centuries, and from regions to the entire globe. Through active dialogue among the international environmental change research experts, the OSC will: • Appraise BLOCKINthe BLOCKINcurrent BLOCKINstate BLOCKINof BLOCKINclimate BLOCKINscience, BLOCKINthereby BLOCKINmaking BLOCKINa BLOCKINmeasurable BLOCKINscientific BLOCKINcontribution BLOCKINto the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); • Identify key opportunities and challenges in observations, modelling and analysis towards understanding and predicting the Earth's climate system; • Facilitate BLOCKINdiscussion BLOCKINon BLOCKINinterdisciplinary BLOCKINresearch BLOCKINrequired BLOCKINto BLOCKINunderstand BLOCKINand BLOCKINpredict BLOCKINresponses BLOCKINof the Earth as a system to climate variability and change, thus helping chart the path forward over the ensuing decades • Highlight BLOCKINpriority BLOCKINresearch BLOCKINin BLOCKINsupport BLOCKINof BLOCKINthe BLOCKINGlobal BLOCKINFramework BLOCKINfor BLOCKINClimate BLOCKINServices BLOCKINinitiated BLOCKINat BLOCKINthe World Climate Conference-3. By entraining early career scientists and students from across the world, especially less-developed and developing nations and regions, the OSC will facilitate growth of the diverse future workforce needed to meet the increasingly complex BLOCKINscientific BLOCKINchallenges BLOCKINof BLOCKINthe BLOCKINfuture.