The international symposium on "New Faces of Climate Variability" was arranged to discuss some of the newly found modes of climate variability. The ENSO Modoki is one such phenomenon and the research study published by the group of JAMSTEC scientist led by APL Director Prof. Toshio Yamagata is the top searched topic of the AGU journal JGR. Very recently, yet another new regional climate mode called "Ningaloo Niño" is identified off Western Australia by researchers from JAMSTEC, U. of Tokyo and CSIRO, Australia. Therefore, to harness these new research activities and for the international exchanges of JAMSTEC's climate research results, the present symposium was proposed and organized by the Application Laboratory.
Prominent climate researchers from USA, UK, France, Italy, Australia, Korea, India, Zimbabwe and Mozambique presented exciting research results. The symposium attracted a large number of participants and there were intensive discussions following each presentation. In the beginning, Prof. Yamagata and several others introduced the new faces of the climate variations such as ENSO Modoki, Ningaloo Nino and California Nino and scale interactions among climate processes. Several talks also brought out successes/inherent challenges associated with the model predictability of ENSO, ENSO Modoki, NAO and the decadal-scale climate variations. One of the major topics of discussions in this symposium, however, was the newly discovered climate mode off Western Australia called the Ningaloo Nino. While SINTEX-F climate prediction model has shown ability to predict the mode, it is felt that ultra-fine resolution climate models augmented by better in situ observations will be needed to realistically predict the intensity and the phase of this newfound climate mode. In addition, several speakers discussed the societal impacts of cyclones and other climate phenomena like tropical temperate troughs in Mozambique and other parts of southern Africa.
The symposium was very successful to provide such a nice platform for the researchers of JAMTEC to announce their novel research results and exchange cutting-edge research information with the international experts. This process will not only improve the visibility of JAMSTEC's new research outcomes but also will help to develop and strengthen research networks with other institutions particularly related to climate modeling and predictability. In addition, the symposium provided an opportunity to the researchers of southern Africa to interact with JAMSTEC scientists and it will help to develop research collaboration with those countries in the near future.