In June 2019, the PICES Working Group-40 (Climate and Ecosystem Predictability) met at the First Institute of Oceanography (FIO) in Qingdao, China for a two-and-a-half-day intersessional workshop at the invitation of Dr. Fangli Qiao. The main objective of WG-40 is “to identify, diagnose and quantify predictable responses in North Pacific marine ecosystems that arise from regional- and large-scale climate processes”. The goals of the intersessional workshop were to review some of the current ecosystem forecasting efforts, assess the mechanisms responsible for predictability in the different areas, and discuss the steps and action required to develop a common and integrated framework for forecasting activities. The CLIVAR Scientific Steering Group (SSG) endorsed the objectives of the workshop, and several members from the International CLIVAR Project Office (ICPO) attended the meeting. There is mutual agreement that continued collaboration between the two communities is desired, as it provides the basis for a very important, societally-relevant and inter-disciplinary endeavor. In that spirit, the CLIVAR Pacific Region Panel is planning to attend the 2019 PICES Annual Meeting in Victoria to meet jointly with WG-40. In addition to PICES representatives and members of the International CLIVAR Project Office, several early career scientists from local institutions (FIO, Xiamen University, the Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of sciences, and the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute) joined the discussion.

The workshop report is available at: http://www.clivar.org/sites/default/files/documents/pacific/meetings/Qingdao_Workshop_Report.pdf

For more information of the workshop, please visit: http://www.clivar.org/events/pices-wg-40-workshop-towards-integrated-approach-understanding-ecosystem-predictability-north