Climate research for the twenty-first century

摘要

As the World Climate Research Programme approaches its fortieth anniversary, Nature Climate Change speaks to Julia Slingo, leader of a major review of the programme, about its achievements and future directions.The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) was established in 1980 under the joint sponsorship of the International Science Council (former the International Council for Science) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This was in recognition of the burgeoning science around understanding how the dimate works how and why it varies, and of early papers identifying potential climate change as carbon dioxide levels increase. The need for an organizational framework for international cooperation in major field experiments and emerging modelling studies was a key driver. It meant that the WCRP was well-placed to provide the scientific evidence base for the First Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in 1990.