Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology: Solving the Pacific Puzzle: TROPICS workshop meets at MPI-M

Upon invitation by MPI-M Director Sarah Kang, world-renowned climate researchers are currently gathering at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, in order to strategize about how to answer some of the most pressing questions in climate research: What governs the sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific and how does this affect the regional and global climate?

Group of scientists exchanging ideas — Credit: MPI-M

The sea surface temperatures (SST) in the tropical Pacific impact marine heat waves, tropical cyclones and monsoon systems as well as global climate. Currently, climate models fail to predict the observed changes in SST in this region, which undermines the confidence in much needed climate projections for the Pacific region and beyond. The discrepancies between observations and simulations are owed to a multitude of factors that influence this important zone – from internal processes to extratropical clouds to the polar sea ice. Therefore, researchers are seeking to disentangle the drivers of the SST patterns in the tropical Pacific and to gain an in-depth understanding: How and why has it changed during the past, what is its present state and what is it going to look like in the future?

Different disciplines all hold a part of the answer to those questions. Putting the pieces together requires close collaboration between them, which is realized by the TROPICS working group, currently under the leadership of Sarah Kang, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M), and her colleagues from all over the world. For the first time, this high-profile research group is meeting in person, hosted by MPI-M in Hamburg. The three-day workshop from September 17–19, 2024, aims to foster discussions and hatch ideas for collaborative projects. Each day is devoted to one key theme, from feedbacks, forcings and teleconnections to more technical questions about observations and modeling. The main goal is to obtain a robust understanding of the tropical Pacific SST warming pattern change from the past to the future.

TROPICS is a working group under the CLIVAR Climate Dynamic Panel, CLIVAR Pacific Panel, and WCRP CFMIP, which are all part of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), a program established in 1980 that coordinates research around the most pressing questions in climate science.

Contact

Prof. Dr. Sarah Kang
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
sarah.kang@mpimet.mpg.de

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