The 7th SPARC General Assembly in Asia Hub Kicks off

On October 24, 2022, the 7th SPARC General Assembly Asia Hub kicked off in Qingdao, China. There are three hubs respectively in Asia, Europe, and North America. The Asia hub of the assembly is undertaken by the First Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources (FIO, MNR), and Europe and North America hubs by the leading international institutions of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Both online and offline reports and discussions are conducted in the three hubs, with more than 400 experts and scholars from across the world attending.

The opening ceremony was jointly held by ECMWF and FIO. Qiao Fangli, Deputy Director of FIO, Florian Pappenberger, Head of the Forecast Department at ECMWF, and Detlef Stammer, Chair of the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee (JSC), attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. In his speech, Deputy Director Qiao expressed warm welcome to the experts and young scholars. He stated that FIO has a long-standing and productive basis of scientific and technological cooperation with WCRP. By establishing the International CLIVAR Project Office and jointly organizing summer schools, the two parties have made fruitful achievements in cooperation in maritime and climate science research and international training. The assembly will promote cooperation in more aspects, and strive to make more positive contributions to ocean and climate forecasting and prediction.

SPARC is one of the six core projects of WCRP. It aims to coordinate international cutting-edge scientific research on the stratosphere-troposphere processes and their impacts on the global system. It will promote the understanding of the multi-spherical interaction (affects the climate system), the hydrosphere, and the chemical and physical processes and interactions in atmospheric layers. SPARC involves ocean dynamics, climate system dynamics and predictability thereof, and long-term climate records. Considering the crucial role of the ocean in the climate system, it is crucial to figure out the impact of the ocean on the troposphere and stratosphere. As a core project in the field of earth system changes, the research results of SPARC will be regularly submitted to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These results serve as an important scientific basis for IPCC's assessment reports and exert a significant influence on the prediction of and response to global climate change.

The SPARC General Assembly is one of the world's most influential in the field of climate change which is held once every four years. The first SPARC General Assembly was held in Melbourne, Australia in 1996. It had a profound impact on the global scientific community's understanding of climate system changes and climate research and laid a foundation for future climate research.

The 2022 SPARC General Assembly will promote interdisciplinary and international collaboration in the global climate system by building a network of scientists and will provide more opportunities for young scientists. The assembly will last five days and invite over fifty world-renowned experts for reports on six topics, including "How Climate Change and Trends are Created in Dynamic Processes", "The Past and Future of SPARC", "Coupling between Climate, Radiation, and Dynamics", "New Understanding of Atmospheric Composition and Variation", "Observation and Reanalysis - New Methods for Observing the Atmosphere", and "From Sub-seasonal to Decadal Climate Forecasting". It will include theme presentations, poster discussions, and forums for young scientists.