North Atlantic Climate: Predictability of the climate in the North Atlantic/European sector (NACLIM)

Description:

NACLIM aims at investigating and quantifying the predictability on interannual to decadal time scales of the climate in the North Atlantic/European sector related to North Atlantic/Arctic Ocean surface state (sea surface temperature -SST- and sea ice) variability and change. NACLIM partly builds on the multi-model decadal prediction experiments currently performed by a number of leading European and worldwide research institutions as part of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Rather than running climate forecasts within the project, the project analyses the CMIP5 predictions and critically assesses their quality for the near-future stage of atmospheric and oceanic quantities.

Specific objectives are:

• to quantify the uncertainty of state-of-the-art climate forecasts by evaluating the ability to model the most important oceanic and atmospheric processes in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, and by comparing key quantities with observations;
• to optimize the present North Atlantic observation system by evaluating the impact of its components on the quality and quality control of model forecasts, and their value in determining the present ocean state and its past variability;
• to quantify the impact on oceanic ecosystems and on European urban societies of predicted North Atlantic/Arctic Ocean variability;
• to critically assess the use of climate forecast parameters for use by stakeholders in society, politics and industry.

Project information

Lead

University of Hamburg, Germany

Partners

Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, Germany

University Pierre et Marie Curie, France

University of Bergen, Norway

Uni Research, Norway

Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany

Danish Meteorological Institute, Denmark

Faroe Marine Research Institute Havstovan, Faroe Islands

Finnish meteorological Institute, Finland

Marine Research Institute, Iceland

Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Netherlands

Scottish Association for Marine Science, United Kingdom

Natural Environment Research Council, United Kingdom

Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Norway

Vito, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Belgium

16 G.I.M. Geographic Information Management,  Belgium

National Institute of Aquatic Resources - DTU Aqua, Denmark

Scottish ministers acting through Marine Scotland, United Kingdom

Source of funding

NACLIM project is financed by European Commission through the 7th Framework Programme for Research