6 April 2011 Dear CLIVAR scientist, This follows our 14 March letter encouraging your involvement in the WCRP

Open Science Conference (OSC). The OSC will be held 24-28 October, 2011 in Denver, Colorado, USA. The abstract submission deadline is fast approaching: 30 April 2011. Please also note the deadline for applying for financial assistance was extended two weeks, but closes very soon: 15 April 2011. We very much hope and anticipate that CLIVAR will have a strong presence at the OSC, and we thus strongly encourage you to consider attending and submitting an abstract. There are many sessions of direct relevance to CLIVAR activities, and many CLIVAR scientists are actively engaged as session conveners. In particular, please look closely at the following sessions and consider submitting one or more abstracts. Other sessions may be of interest as well, so we certainly encourage looking over the whole conference program (http://www.wcrp-climate.org/conference2011/structure.html). Sessions of direct relevance to CLIVAR include (at a minimum): Parallel Sessions: B1-8, B12. Poster Sessions: C1-4, C6, C8-9, C12, C14, C18-20, C25-26, C28-29, C32-34, C36-39, C41, and C44. Please also consider summarizing CLIVAR efforts on a particular topic through a poster cluster. These are clusters of posters on a common theme, submitted together to a session. Clusters can help make CLIVAR activities more visible, and they will ensure a critical mass of posters on a given topic. The guidelines for submitting a cluster can be found on the web page above. Finally, on the next page please find some thoughts on the uniqueness of the OSC, as well as some benefits to be gained by attending. Please take a moment to look these over, and pass them along to others to further encourage wide participation. We look forward to seeing you in Denver! Sincerely, Jim Hurrell and Martin Visbeck Co-Chairs, International CLIVAR SSG Members, WCRP OSC Scientific Organizing Committee

How is this conference different from other conferences? It covers all aspects of understanding and predicting climate variability and change. It will deliver a comprehensive and synthesized assessment of climate research. It will bring together diverse research communities that usually meet separately. It will identify the grand challenges facing the climate research community and help establish future priorities for climate research. It is timed to provide strategic input into the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.

Whom will I meet? You will interact with those in your discipline through focused oral and poster sessions. You will meet face-to-face with experts from other disciplines and create new opportunities for collaboration. If you are an early-career scientist, you will interact with leading climate scientists from around the world through planned focused activities. What will I gain from attending this conference? You will present your latest research and discuss it with colleagues. You will participate in the big-picture synthesis of cutting-edge climate research. You will influence the development of the international research agenda of WCRP.