Who We Are
US CLIVAR is a national research program with a mission to foster understanding and prediction of climate variability and change on intraseasonal-to-centennial timescales, through observations and modeling with emphasis on the role of the ocean and its interaction with other elements of the Earth system, and to serve the climate community and society through the coordination and facilitation of research on outstanding climate questions.
Our Research
The ocean plays a key role in providing a major long-term "memory" for the climate system, generating or enhancing variability on a range of climatic timescales. Understanding the ocean's role in climate variability is therefore crucial for quantifying and harnessing the predictability inherent to the Earth system. US CLIVAR-led research has played a substantial role in advancing understanding of, and skill in predicting climate variability and change.
Science and Research Challenges
Subseasonal-to-
Seasonal Prediction
Decadal Variability
and Predictability
Climate Change
Climate and Extreme
Events
Polar Climate Changes
Climate and Marine
Carbon/Biogeochemistry
Climate at the Coasts
Announcements
Beyond local wind: How remote forces shape Pacific equatorial upwelling
Using a local energetics framework, Brizuela et al. (2025) find that 20-50% of equatorial Pacific upwelling is not driven by local winds but by potential energy stored in the tropical thermocline.
A global look at the consistency of atmospheric river seasonality
Kamnani et al. (2025) present the first systematic global assessment of how consistently different regions exhibit a dominant atmospheric river (AR) season, tracking how often regional peaks repeat across regions and detection methods.
November Newsgram is Available
Stay informed with the latest news, research highlights, webinars, data sets, meetings, funding, career opportunities, and jobs for the climate science community.
2025 US CLIVAR Summit Report is Available
The recent US CLIVAR Summit included three plenary sessions and 13 breakouts on a range of pressing climate variability and change science topics.
Upcoming Webinars
There are no upcoming Webinars at this time.