Leads from the Nation’s six major climate modeling centers met for the third year in a row to work toward developing a common national climate modeling strategy. Through annual discussions drawing on the centers’ complementary strengths, the U.S. Climate Modeling Summit (USCMS) has the potential to substantially improve our country’s modeling and prediction capabilities. The third USCMS builds upon the outcomes of the previous two years by identifying priority activities for the coming year and targeting several key themes: Arctic science and predictions, subseasonal to seasonal predictability, model intercomparison projects, and next generation high performance computing for weather and climate. In support of the Arctic theme, modeling center scientists met with other experts for a one-day Arctic Modeling Workshop prior to the USCMS. Workshop attendees discussed Arctic modeling successes, weaknesses, and needs, and reported findings at the USCMS. NOAA’s Climate Program Office Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections Program contributed substantially to both events.

The National Science Foundation hosted the Arctic Modeling Workshop and USCMS on March 14 and 15, respectively, in Washington, DC.