Photograph by Dr Charlotte Marcinko 

CLIVAR (Climate and Ocean: Variability, Predictability and Change) is one of the six core projects of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).

CLIVAR’s mission is to understand the dynamics, the interaction, and the predictability of the climate system with emphasis on ocean-atmosphere interactions. In the future CLIVAR will critically contribute to new challenges of WCRP climate science by covering the following overarching topics:

  • Understanding the ocean’s role in climate variability, change, and transient sensitivity;
  • Understanding the ocean’s role in shaping the hydrological cycle and distribution of precipitation at global and regional scales;
  • Understanding the drivers of regional climate phenomena that provide predictability on different time scales;
  • Provision of coordinated observations, analyses and predictions of variability and change in the Earth’s climate system;
  • Detection, attribution and quantification of climate variability and change;
  • Development and evaluation of climate simulations and predictive capabilities.

 

Objectives

To facilitate observations, analysis, predictions and projections of variability and changes in the Earth’s climate system, enabling better understanding of climate variability and dynamics, predictability, and change, to the benefit of society and the environment in which we live.

CLIVAR (Climate and Ocean: Variability, Predictability and Change) is one of the six core projects of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)