Dr John Church is Chair of the Joint Scientific Committee of the Geneva-based World Climate Research Programme, a committee that designs and shapes projects to better understand and predict the climate system.
Current activities
CSIRO's Dr John Church is a Principal Research Scientist at the Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship.
Based in Hobart, Tasmania, Dr Church is Leader of the Sea Level Rise Program at the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystem Cooperative Research Centre.
For the past two years he has been Vice-Chair of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), which designs and shapes projects to better understand and predict the climate system.
The WCRP is sponsored by:
“Only through the scientific design and development of climate observing and modelling systems can scientists monitor, predict and understand what is happening in the climate system.”
Dr John Church,
Leader of the Sea Level Rise Program
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the World Meteorological Organisation
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the Intergovernment Oceanographic Commission
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the International Council for Science.
Dr Church says a key objective of the Joint Scientific Committee of the WCRP is to build systems that acquire enough oceanic, atmospheric and sea- ice data to incorporate into models to predict climate over periods from seasons to years ahead.
Activities organised by the WCRP also provide the climate projections and analyses used in assessments of human-induced climate change, including changes in the frequency and severity of extreme events.
Dr Church says Australia’s participation in international projects provides its scientists with access to international expertise and collaborators and to observing system data.
'Only through the scientific design and development of climate observing and modelling systems can scientists monitor, predict and understand what is happening in the climate system.'
'To get access to the data from which we can usefully make climate projections, Australia, as much or more than any other nation, needs to be engaged in international programs, especially given the influence of the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans on our climate, environment and economy.'
Background
The WCRP was established in 1980, under the joint sponsorship of International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and has been sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO since 1993.
The objectives of the program are to develop the fundamental scientific understanding of the physical climate system and climate processes to determine to what extent climate can be predicted and the extent of human influence on climate.
The program encompasses studies of the global atmosphere, oceans, sea and land ice, and the land surface which together constitute the Earth's physical climate system.
WCRP studies are specifically directed to provide scientifically founded quantitative answers to the questions being raised on climate and the range of natural climate variability, as well as to establish the basis for predictions of global and regional climatic variations and changes in the frequency and severity of extreme events.
This information is used to inform Governments' decisions about climate and increas undestanding of potential influences of human activity on climate.
Achievements
Dr Church won a CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement in 2006.
Find out more about the World Climate Research Programme.
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