CLIVAR (Climate and Ocean - Variability, Predictability, and Change) is one of the six core projects of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), a world leading high-level scientific program in the field of climate change; it was launched in 1995, building on the success of the Tropical Ocean – Global Atmosphere Project (TOGA) and the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). CLIVAR’s mission is to understand the dynamics, the interaction, and the predictability of the climate system with emphasis on ocean-atmosphere interactions. To this end, it facilitates 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. 

Currently, the CLIVAR community is formed by more than 200 recognized scientists (both senior and in their early stages of their career), coming from over 30 countries around the world, the presence of China is prominent since it provides members for practically all CLIVAR groups.

By strengthening the construction of climate and ocean observation systems, process studies, as well as the development of coupled climate models, CLIVAR has deepened people’s understanding of the ocean and its role in the climate system. CLIVAR science makes fundamental contributions to the knowledge and understanding of the climate system that are regularly assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and that must underpin the provision of operational climate services.

Over the next decade, CLIVAR will target the following scientific priorities:

1.Mechanisms of climate variability and change that require further investigation with the ultimate goal of better constraining the fluxes of energy and carbon in the climate system;

2.Ocean processes that modulate climate variability and change for which open questions remain;

3.Climate predictability challenges that exist over a broad range of space and time scales.

 

Since April 2014, the International CLIVAR Project Office (ICPO) has been hosted by the First Institute of Oceanography China. The successful landing of the ICPO at FIO reflects the international recognition towards China’s leading role in ocean and climate research and is instrumental in establishing fruitful cooperation between Chinese scientists and researchers from the global climate community that are united under the auspices of the WCRP.

The major responsibilities of the ICPO include:

● Be responsible for the implementation of CLIVAR Science Plan;

● Support to CLIVAR Scientific Group (SSG), panels and other working groups;

● Strengthen Early Career Scientists Capacity (ECS) Building;

● To maintain and establish partnership with relevant international programs and organizations;

● Publish science highlights and outcomes