WCRP IPOs and JPS Telecon in June

Submitted by Qian Zhao on Wed, 2020-07-01 03:52

The WCRP International Project Offices (IPOs) and Joint Planning Staff (JPS) had the monthly telecon on 29 June, 2020. During the telecon, there was a report of the key activities from each IPO, as well as the update for the upcoming JSC meetings and planning for next year.

Jose Santos presented on behalf of ICPO on the following highlights from CLIVAR side during the telecon: Panels and RFs are communicating through telecons coordinated by the ICPO staff on monthly or quarterly basis; Request received from US CLIVAR to provide support to the US AMOC Science Team, and a CLIVAR AMOC Task Team proposal is currently under review by CLIVAR SSG; ICMPO is working on a proposal to transition into a joint WWRP/WCRP Monsoons Project Office as per the endorsement made at JSC-41; One special issue for CLIVAR Exchanges is being prepared and to be released in November 2020 together with a special edition of the GEWEX quarterly magazine both focused on the Monsoons and with the coordination of the ICMPO; Several meetings are being prepared, such as the Tropical Basin Interaction (TBI) conference (Dec. 2020 alongside AGU or after) and 2nd Monsoon Conference (Feb. 2021 in New Deli, India), but it will depend on the situation of COVID-19. CLIVAR is also planning to have a pan-CLIVAR meeting in May 2021 in Trieste, Italy, focusing on the status for ocean observation and it is a close-door meeting of CLIVAR with invited participants from partners.

Other relevant messages from the telecon include:

  • IPO staffs are gradually starting to come back to offices, but the process is very slow.
  • Projects are outlining their roles in the new structure of WCRP.
  • The extraordinary JSC session will be organised online in Nov/Dec of 2020, and the JSC-42 will be organised in May/June 2021, and the modality and venue are yet to be decided.
  • WCRP calendar is being finalised and feedbacks received from IPOs.
  • Two different scenarios to be considered when planning for the activities in 2021, i.e. whether within the current structure of WCRP; or in the new pillars/homes structure.
  • Unspent funds from WCRP in 2020 will be carried over to 2021, and IPOs can also apply new funds for activities in 2021. There were suggestions to have joint meetings among projects and combine the funding requests for WCRP.
  • The next JPS and IPOs telecon will be organised in September and be chaired by GEWEX office.