End-term meeting of Joint Call on Climate Science for Oceans

The joint call between JPI Climate and JPI Oceans mobilised funding organisations for transnational added values on climate sciences with a special focus on oceans and climate interactions. National funders from France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Latvia, Ireland, Iceland, Italy and Norway participated in the call, providing a total of around 8.6 million Euros of funding.

This Joint Call focused on oceans and climate, using observations and Earth system models in order to address the following topics: Strengthening our understanding of climate variability and extremes resulting from the interactions with the oceans such as extratropical and tropical cyclones, and how they are affected by climate change on a range of time scales.

Four funded projects MEDLEY, ROADMAP, EUREC4A-OA and CE2COAST kicked off in September 2020 and were coordinated under the lead of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in France. The projects conducted research on the interactions between oceans and climate by analysing model simulations and observational data, they enhanced understanding of upper ocean variability and dynamics and will ultimately improve the performance of climate models. The outcomes of the projects have potential in informing policy measures to increase resilience and adaptation for vulnerable areas, especially in coastal and low island areas.

With this final meeting, researchers and research funders presented the achievements, summarised the scientific findings and engagement with stakeholders, and it also served as an opportunity to exchange on research gaps these projects have uncovered. Professor Gerhard Krinner, Director of Research and Senior Scientist at the CNRS in Grenoble, France, presented the key findings of the European Commission’s Next Frontier for Climate Change Science report and insights from the authors of the IPCC 6th assessment report on knowledge gaps. Prof. Krinner also addressed priorities for research in climate change science, such as maximising the impact of EU-funded research and building bridges across natural and social scientific domains. He highlighted the prominent role of adaptation and climate resilient development, along with equity and justice as key enablers of climate action. 

The MEDLEY project reported on the spatial heterogeneity of the ocean mixed layer dynamics in the Global Ocean, the Labrador Sea and under sea ice. The project generated new datasets from observations for model validation and overall improved accuracy and consistency of how mixed layer heterogeneity can be represented in climate modelling. The ROADMAP project contributed to a better understanding of the influence of North Atlantic and North Pacific Ocean surface variability on the extratropical atmospheric circulation, with a focus on high-impact weather and climate extremes under present-day and future climate conditions. The EUREC4A-OA project worked on improving the representation of small-scale nonlinear ocean-atmosphere interactions in climate models by innovative joint observing and modelling approaches. Lastly, the CE2COAST project reported on thresholds and opportunities for downscaling climate and ocean change to services.

The meeting concluded with a discussion among projects and funders to share feedback on call and project management experiences, suggest future research areas, and identify opportunities for further extending project impact. Overall, the meeting was crucial for consolidating achievements, addressing challenges, and charting the future of climate science for oceans in Europe, as well as any potential future collaboration between JPI Climate and JPI Oceans.  

Learn more about Next Generation Climate Science in Europe for Oceans by browsing through the presentations from the final meeting here: European Commission keynote presentation, CE2COAST communication presentation, EUREC4A-OA scientific presentation, EUREC4A-OA communication presentation, MEDLEY communication presentation, MEDLEY scientific presentation, ROADMAP scientific presentation.

“Photo Credits: JPI Oceans”