The monthly telecon for WCRP Joint Planning Staff and International Project Offices (IPOs) was organised on 27 May 2020, chaired by ICPO. Jose Santos, Rupa Kumar Kolli, Jing Li and Liping Yin from ICPO participated in the telecon. The telecon included the updates from each IPO, as well as the outcomes from WCRP JSC-41 and follow-up actions.

The highlights from the IPOs update include:

• WCRP Task Team for Regional Activity will be extended to the end of 2020, and a Roadmap is being prepared by the TT and will involve WCRP community and outside partners in the consultation process later on.
• Beta version of the Database for Regional Activities will be available soon. IPOs are encouraged to test and provide feedback to CORA.
• Best Practices for Digital Platforms have been consolidated by CORA and shared to participants, the next step is to summarize the information by three categories, i.e. 1) internal communication; 2) external meetings/workshop; and 3) data and document sharing. This could also be included in the WCRP communication plan. Meanwhile, staffs in IPOs and JPS need to have adequate knowledge and capacity on how to use the new ways of communication. Ongoing efforts taken by each IPO to
• Many events to be organised by WCRP community are currently postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19, which may result in a time conflict as well as funding deficiency in 2021.
• Support to SPARC IPO has been secured for 2021-2023, and support to GEWEX IPO has been secured for another five years.
• IPOs are encouraged to contact ICMPO in case they have any interest in or linkage with monsoon activities, especially on regional activities and regional climate information.
• More linkage with WMO activities, e.g. CliC with Arctic Climate Forum; CLIVAR, GEWEX and S2S with WWRP; etc.
• IPOs are assisting their respective SSG to address the comments and suggestions from JSC-41.

The second half of the telecon focused on the update from JSC-41 and follow-up actions:

• The JSC-41 discussion was based on the outcomes from WCRP’s Climate Science Week in San Francisco in December 2019 and the High-level Science Questions and Flagship Workshop in Hamburg in February 2020. The consultation meeting planned in Washington D.C. was cancelled due to COVID-19. Five Lighthouse Activities (LHA) were coming from Hamburg meeting.
• Major outcomes of the JSC-41:

1. Feedback received from WCRP communities as well as co-sponsors and other partners on the 5 Lighthouse Activities.
2. New elements and structures (yellow pillars in Detlef’s presentation) were proposed. Integration and communication between the yellow pillars are to be promoted. We need to make sure to not leave behind critical elements of WCRP in the new structure. The new structure will be in place by JSC-43.
3. Strong coordination between model and data/observation communities are to be strengthened.
4. Speed up the process to develop the WCRP Implementation Plan.
5. Grand Challenges will be end in 2022.
6. Carbon footprint drew great interest during the meeting – future implementation needed.

• Discussion on Follow up actions after JSC 41:

1. Finalizing the JSC-41 report: fresh out the LHA, new structure of WCRP
2. Extraordinary WCRP Family meeting in late 2020.
3. Membership: to improve the gender and geographic balance
4. Regional Consultation for WCRP Implementation Plan: look at people in and outside WCRP communities.

Participants: