Mission: to observe, understand, simulate and predict Earth’s climate system

Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR), founded in the year 1995, is the main focus in WCRP for studies of climate variability. Its mission is to observe, simulate and predict the Earth’s climate system, with a focus on ocean-atmosphere interactions enabling better understanding of climate variability, predictability and change to the benefit of society and the environment in which we live. CLIVAR seeks to encourage analysis of observations of climate variations and change on seasonal to centennial and longer time scales. It collaborates closely with WCRP-GEWEX on the monsoon systems of the world. It also encourages and helps to coordinate observational studies of climate processes, particularly for the ocean but also over the monsoon land areas, encouraging their feed through into improvements in models.

CLIVAR promotes the development of a sustained ocean observing system both regional and globally. In collaboration with other WCRP projects, it is attempting particularly to develop prediction and understanding of the coupled behaviour of the rapidly changing atmosphere and more slowly varying land surface, oceans and ice masses as they respond to natural processes, human influences and changes in the Earth's chemistry and biota, refining the estimates of anthropogenic climate change and our understanding of climate variability.

CLIVAR is providing management of and scientific input to the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) cross cutting topics on seasonal and decadal prediction and (with GEWEX) on monsoons and climate extremes.  It also contributes to those on anthropogenic climate change, sea level rise and atmospheric chemistry and climate.  CLIVAR builds on - and is advancing - the findings of WCRP’s successfully completed Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA) project, and the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE).

Examples of CLIVAR accomplishments:
> Development of improved understanding and prediction of climate variability/change.
> Coordination of climate model scenario experiments for IPCC (CMIP3). Key inputs on changes in climate extremes to IPCC AR4.
> Model intercomparison activities aimed at improving seasonal predictions and ocean model performance.
> Coordination of field studies to help improve parameterization schemes for atmosphere and ocean climate models and their interactions.
> Synthesis of ocean data & information.
> Advocacy for real time data and high quality delayed mode observational data for operations and research.
> Development of an electronic African Climate Atlas, a tool for research on African climate.
> Organizing & sponsoring training workshops on seasonal prediction in Africa, climate impacts on ocean ecosystems, climate data and extremes and ENSO.

International CLIVAR Project Office
Southampton, United Kingdom
E-mail: icpo@noc.soton.ac.uk
Web: http://www.clivar.org
See also: U.S. CLIVAR; CLIVAR-España; CLIVAR-Canada; U.K. CLIVAR

Co-Chairs:

Dr Jim Hurrell
NCAR, USA
E-mail: jhurrell@ucar.edu 

Professor Martin Visbeck
IFM-GEOMAR, Germany
E-mail: mvisbeck@ifm-geomar.de 

Members:

Dr Wenjie Dong
China Meteorological Administration
E-mail: dongwj@cma.gov.cn

Dr Lisa Goddard
The Earth Institute at Columbia University, USA
E-mail: goddard@iri.columbia.edu

Professor Roberto Mechoso
UCLA, USA
E-mail: mechoso@atmos.ucla.edu 

Ex-Officio members:

Chairs and/or Co-chairs of the following CLIVAR working groups and panels:
WGSIP
WGCM
WGOMD
GSOP
PAGES
AAMP
IOP
Atlantic Implementation Panel
Pacific Implementation Panel
Southern Ocean Implementation Panel
VAMOS
VACS
CCl/CLIVAR Expert Team on Climate change Detection and Indices