On October 21st, CPO's Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections (MAPP) program launched a new Climate Sensitivity Task Force (CSTF), a three-year effort, led by Ming Zhao (NOAA GFDL), Brian Medeiros (NCAR), and Brian Soden (University of Miami), that will organize 20+ researchers funded by MAPP. Their research efforts are aimed to interrogate a critical issue in climate science and modeling—climate sensitivity. Climate sensitivity describes how intensely the Earth system responds to a change in greenhouse gas forcing. It is a crucial metric of climate change impacts and a fundamental metric used to evaluate climate models. The group will be working to better understand why many recent climate models show a higher climate sensitivity than previous models, and to examine the processes leading to this higher sensitivity, including how clouds respond to a warmer climate. Specific CSTF activities will emerge organically from the interests of the group's membership and the leads.

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