LAUSR

SPARC (Stratosphere–Troposphere Processes and their Role in Climate) is one of the core projects of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), coordinating international efforts to address relevant issues in climate and climate prediction via better understanding of the stratosphere– troposphere system. SPARC is a broad umbrella body that supports many scientific activities solving environmental issues, such as atmospheric dynamics and predictability, chemistry and climate, and long-term records for understanding climate. Much of the scientific activity of SPARC is directly linked to the WCRP’s “grand challenges”, particularly the issues of “Clouds, Circulation and Climate Sensitivity”, “Weather and Climate Extremes”, “Near-term Climate Prediction”, “Carbon Feedbacks in the Climate System”, and “Melting Ice and Global Consequences”. A SPARC local workshop was held at the Korea Polar Research Institute, 18–20 October 2017, in Incheon, South Korea, focusing on “WCRP Grand Challenges and Regional Climate Change” to promote international collaboration on these issues. This SPARC-sponsored workshop aimed at not only international collaborations with Asian scientists, but also capacity development for SPARC-related activities in Asia. Active discussions among 79 scientists and students from 10 different countries (Fig. 1) filled the workshop and sessions of various SPARC and SPARC-related research topics on stratosphere–troposphere coupling, atmospheric composition, Arctic climate, and climate change and variability. We briefly describe them below.