On 15-16 October 2024, the Scientific Forum for Numerical Simulation of Asian Regional Climate Change and Earth System Process was successfully held at the International Conference Centre of Nanjing University, Suzhou Campus. The forum was organized by the School of Atmospheric Sciences (SAS) of Nanjing University, and jointly hosted by the Nanjing-Helsinki Institute in Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences of Nanjing University (NJU Nanjing-Helsinki Institute), the Monsoon Asia Integrated Research for Sustainability (MAIRS-FE), and WCRP CORDEX. It gathered more than 110 senior experts and young scientists from 13 countries and regions, and provided a platform for participants to sharing their achievements, expertise and insights in climate sciences and Earth System Sciences at regional scale.
The forum opening was chaired by Prof. Shuyu Wang of Nanjing University. Prof. Aijun Ding, the Assistant President of Nanjing University, was invited to deliver the welcome speech. He expressed his appreciation to both international and domestic participants for actively involving in such a grand academic activity, presented the achievements and contributions of Nanjing University in advancing the research of global change and Earth System Science, and finally shared with the audiences the future prospects of Nanjing University continuous effort to focus on Earth system Science and regional climate change by supporting similar scientific events to Suzhou Forum. Dr Iréne Lake from the International Program Office of WCRP CORDEX introduced the recent progress and the future research priorities of CORDEX in regional climate downscaling activities around the globe, stressing CORDEX's role in connecting and contributing to climate action as well as other WCRP core projects. The forum opening was closed with the Academician Congbin Fu's presentation titled 'Some Fundamental Issues in Earth System Science'. He shared his experiences and reflections on facing the challenges of regional climate, Global Change and the Earth System Science, and then pointed out the disciplinary connection and discrepancy between Earth System Science and Earth Science during their intertwined developments. He further clarified the structural concepts such as the human elements in the Anthropocene equation of Earth System, providing a valuable academic perspective for the participants.
Forum keynote session was coordinated by Dr Koji Dairaku from the University of Tsukuba. In this session, Drs. Yaoming Ma, Li Dan from Chinese Academy of Sciences presented the latest progresses and achievements on Earth System observation, model development and numerical modeling in China, emphasizing the critical role of integrated study in both observation and model development, so as to better understand and predict the climatic-environmental change with accuracy at regional scale, for example, over the global change hotspot of Tibetan Plateau. Academician Renhe Zhang from Fudan University elaborated on the influence of East Asian winter winds on the inter-decadal variability of El Niño and the mechanisms of atmospheric remote correlations such as the Arctic Oscillation. Finally, Professor William Gutowski of Iowa State University shared his research results on 'Decision-relevant climate scenarios and their contribution to social cooperation and climate resilience' through a video presentation.
Three parallel sessions were held and dedicated to the scientific subjects including 'Regional Climate Observation and Modelling and Links to Earth System Processes', 'Atmospheric Chemistry and Regional Biogeochemical Cycle' and 'Sustainable Development and Climate Change Action' in the following two days. Invited speakers and scientists took the opportunity to present cutting-edge research, and exchanged views and perspectives around the session themes. As the effort of Forum to promote the capacity building of young scientists to be more actively involved and blended in the international academic events, a side event was organised with the help of graduate students from SAS and the NJU Nanjing-Helsinki Institute. During the side event, young scientists shared their work by poster, flash and oral presentations. The best poster award was awarded based on the evaluation results of six judges. Through the active communication with peers and senior scientists, the young scientist side event will broaden their scientific horizon and benefit the future development.
The Suzhou forum provided a platform not only for the scientists from different regions around the globe to communicate on the topics of climate and Earth System Science, but also for the future interdisciplinary cooperation and joint research. As the outcome of forum, it can be expected that continuous interdisciplinary efforts and scientific achievements will greatly support the sustainable development over various regions. In addition to be directly involved in the Forum's academic activities, Graduate students from SAS and the NJU Nanjing-Helsinki Institute were encouraged to participate in the local organisation and coordination of the forum sessions. With their performances being greatly appreciated by participants, their experiences and contributions during the forum can be viewed as one of feature display of universities strategy to the cultivation of talents in Earth System Science and the construction of the follow-up research team.