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Climate Variability

Project Description
CLIVAR- An International Programme on Climate Variability and Predictability

CLIVAR is an international research programme investigating climate
variability and predictability on time-scales from months to decades
and the response of the climate system to anthropogenic
forcing. CLIVAR, as one of the major components of the World Climate
Research Programme (WCRP), started in 1995 has a lifetime of 15 years.

The overall purpose and goal of CLIVAR is:

To describe and understand climate variability and predictability on
seasonal to centennial time-scales, identify the physical processes
responsible, including anthropogenic effects, and develop modeling and
predictive capabilities where practicable.

The specific CLIVAR Objectives are:

Describe and understand the physical processes responsible for climate
variability and predictability on seasonal, interannual, decadal and
centennial time scales, through the collection and analysis of
observations and the development and application of models of the
coupled climate system and its component parts, in co-operation with
other relevant climate research and observing programmes;

Extend the record of climate variability over the time scales of
interest through the assembly of quality-controlled paleoclimate and
instrumental data sets;

Extend the range and accuracy of seasonal to interannual climate
prediction through the development of global coupled predictive

Understand and predict the response of the climate system to increases
of radiatively active gases and aerosols and to compare these
predictions with the observed climate record in order to detect any
anthropogenic modification of the natural climate signal.

CLIVAR Home Page:
International CLIVAR Project Office
256/20 Southampton Oceanography Centre
Empress Dock, SOUTHAMPTON SO14 3ZH, UK
Phone: +44-2380 596777
Fax: +44-2380 596204
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