Climate Monitoring
Italy’s CNR‑ISP leads the Climate Monitoring Node of the Antarctic Regional Climate Centre Network (AntRCC), coordinating and producing climate monitoring products for the Antarctic region. The Node’s mandate is to synthesize observations and diagnostics from multiple partners to deliver authoritative reports, analyses and information on the state of the Antarctic climate.
The AntRCC Climate Monitoring Node fulfils the agreed RCC functions for climate monitoring by providing the following services:
- Status reports and annual summaries of Antarctic climate conditions, incorporating temperature, precipitation, sea‑ice and atmospheric circulation indicators.
- Maps and analyses of climate anomalies, extreme events and long‑term trends, including sea‑ice extent, temperature anomalies and precipitation variability.
- Regional climate bulletins and diagnostics (monthly to annual) that capture variability and extremes across Antarctic stations and sub‑regions.
- Development of climate watch advisories and event‑specific assessments to support environmental management, logistics and research planning.
- Coordination with data and forecasting nodes to ensure the consistency and quality of monitoring products.
Many national meteorological and research institutions contribute to the AntRCC Node‑CM through observations, analyses and climate bulletins. Examples of partner contributions include:
- Argentina: Monitors variability and extremes of air temperature from stations, summarising these to the Antarctic Climate Forum and Regional Climate Outlooks; the Regional WIGOS Centre monitors observation quality and timeliness.
- Australia: monthly to annual reporting of climate conditions at Antarctic and sub‑Antarctic stations, along with assessments of climate variability and extremes and contributions to regional climate analyses.
- China: climate monitoring from Chinese stations and production of monthly and annual climate bulletins for Zhongshan and Greatwall stations.
- Denmark: sea‑ice observations and monitoring using satellite data (OSISAF) to support Antarctic sea‑ice diagnostics.
- Germany: global anomalies of temperature and pressure, extreme temperature analyses, average maximum temperature diagnostics and sea‑ice coverage products.
- Australia’s CSIRO Decadal Climate Forecasting Project: hindcasts and high‑resolution climate change scenarios for the Antarctic region, including ice‑sheet modelling and surface mass balance downscaling.
- Australian Antarctic Division: contributions to the analysis of climate variability and extremes at regional scales.
Additional contributions are provided by national meteorological and hydrological services across the AntRCC network, including Argentina, Chile, France, India, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together these partners ensure comprehensive coverage across the Antarctic region.
More about Node‑CM: WMO RCC Information | AntRCC Climate Monitoring Resources
