KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima

Tropical Atlantic climate recently experienced pronounced shifts of great socio-economic importance. Unfortunately, the tropical Atlantic is a region of key uncertainty in the climate system: state-of-the-art models exhibit large systematic error, prediction of climate variability and change are highly uncertain, and it is unknown how climate change will impact marine ecosystems and people dependent on them. This project (PREFACE-RCN) was linked to the EU FP7-funded project PREFACE (www.preface-project.eu), which brought together European and African expertise with the overarching goal to improve prediction of tropical Atlantic climate and its impacts. PREFACE-RCN aimed to enhance UiB's contribution to the project as coordinator and strengthen UiB's international profile, by promoting scientific exchange. We investigated the role of land surface processes in the development of the West African Monsoon (WAM), tropical Atlantic climate variability, and the role of the ocean in driving African rainfall. In 2014 we focused on understanding how low-frequency climate variability and model errors might influence rainfall patterns. UiB provided a platform for joint discussions and planning new experiments, proposals and publications, by hosting several visits throughout the summer. Numerous academic lectures were given and there was much interaction with students and researchers in Bergen. The project also helped to co-organise and support a summer school in Cape Town (ZA), where 32 students from Angola, Namibia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, DRC, South Africa, Norway, Germany, China, France, Spain and the Netherlands attended lectures given by 25 scientists from Europe and Africa. In 2015 we analysed the contrasting roles of ocean and land surface temperature in WAM. Cooperation with international scientists was facilitated by a number of 1-2 months long exchange visits between Spain, Norway and Nigeria. In addition, Prof. Keenlyside (UiB) gave an invited lecture at a fisheries conference in Angola to present PREFACE climate prediction results. UiB also co-organised the Tropical Atlantic Variability (TAV) Conference in Cape Town (ZA), which received the CoP21 label. In 2016 we performed experiments to understand the relative importance of land-surface processes and ocean-atmosphere interaction for WAM. RCN-PREFACE enabled short visits to PREFACE partners and a newly established external collaborator. National collaboration was strengthened with NERSC on seasonal prediction research and with the new FAO-NORAD EAF-Nansen program. UiB presented PREFACE results at four international conferences, and also to the WCRP-CLIVAR Atlantic Regional Panel. We co-organised an international workshop on climate prediction, a course at the Bergen Summer Research School (BSRS), and the 2016 TAV conference in Paris (FR). Four sessions related to PREFACE were co-convened at three international conferences (USA, Austria, China). In 2017 we extended analysis of the relation between the equatorial Atlantic cold tongue and WAM. Cooperation within PREFACE was strengthened by visiting researchers from Spain and South Africa. We held another course at the BSRS, co-organised a symposium on climate prediction in Beijing, a science-policy session for ecosystem management in Mindelo (Cape Verde) and convened sessions at three international conferences (Austria, Japan, South Africa). Finally, in 2018 we completed the scientific work on the impacts of the tropical Atlantic Ocean and African continent on WAM. It showed that the off equatorial ocean and land-surface processes dominate the continental penetration of monsoon rainfall. The impact of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean on atmospheric zonal winds is mostly limited to the western Atlantic. This has important implications for understanding current model biases that are being further investigated. Additionally, the international collaborations with French and Spanish institutions have continued on the equatorial Atlantic inter-annual variability and further publications are expected beyond the end of the project. RCN-PREFACE supported the successful final PREFACE conference and high-level science-policy session, from which a policy brief will be available on the PREFACE website. The numerous researcher visits, participation in, and organising of, scientific and science-policy events, and several scientific publications, have all contributed to the advancement of research achieved with PREFACE and associate projects. They also contribute to internationalization at UiB, across Europe, Africa, Japan, China and the USA, besides strengthening national networks on climate prediction and tropical Atlantic research.

PREFACE-RCN er tilknyttet EU-prosjektet PREFACE som ledes av Universitetet i Bergen (UiB). Hovedmålene i PREFACE-RCN er å styrke UiBs bidrag til EU-prosjektet, og å øke UiBs internasjonale profil når det gjelder prediksjon av vær/klima på sesong- og dekad eskala. Stimuleringsmidlene skal brukes til å finansiere 6 PM av en postdoktor som skal undersøke samspillet mellom den vestafrikanske monsunen og klimaet i det tropiske Atlanterhavet. Dette utfyller og styrker UiBs planlagte vitenskapelige arbeid i EU-pr osjektet. Finansiering av besøk av og hos internasjonale PREFACE-partnere vil øke samarbeid og vitenskapelig utveksling i prosjektet og dermed styrke EU-prosjektets koordinering fra norsk side. Deltakelse i relevante internasjonale møter, konferanser og a rbeidsgrupper vil øke internasjonal synlighet for både PREFACE og UiB, og styrke norsk kompetanse om prediksjon av vær/klima på sesong- og dekadeskala. Tett samarbeid med de to andre norske PREFACE-partnere vil bygge nasjonale nettverk i forbindelse med E U-prosjektet.