date: Tue, 07 Apr 1998 10:10 +0000 (GMT) from: djgriggs@meto.gov.uk subject: IPCC Third Assessment Report to: m.hulme@uea.ac.uk Mike You probably know most of the information below already. I hope you are able to come. Dave Dear Mike I am writing to inform you that you will be receiving an invitation to a Scoping Meeting for the Working Group I volume of the IPCC Third Assessment Report. As you may already be aware IPCC is beginning preparations for its Third Assessment Report (TAR). The Third Assessment Report will be comprehensive and cover the complete range of scientific, technical, economic issues associated with the climate system and climate change deemed important by the expert or policy-making communities. The TAR will summarise the state of knowledge covered in previous IPCC reports, but will primarily assess information generated since the Second Assessment Report, recognising that climate change is a global issue but emphasising the assessment of the regional aspects of climate change. It will consist of reports of the three IPCC Working Groups and a Synthesis Report. The Synthesis Report will be written in a non-technical style suitable for policymakers and will address a broead range of key policy-relevant questions. The process for selecting Lead Authors (LA), Contributing Authors (CA) and Review Editors (RE) has begun. The Bureaux of the three IPCC Working Groups met in March 1998 to identify experts (about 4-5 per chapter) to come to a Scoping Meeting scheduled for 29 June - 1 July 1998. It is anticipated that many of the experts selected for the Scoping Meeting will play an important role in the drafting of the three Working Group Reports. At the Scoping Meeting the chapter structure and contents of each of the Reports will be planned and the selection process for the Lead Author teams will be advanced. The chapter structure and contents of the reports will be adopted at an IPCC Plenary scheduled for 1-3 October 1998, by which time it is expected that the Lead Author teams will be complete, subject to minor amendments. Chapter teams will begin the drafting process in late 1998/early 1999. The three WG Reports will each undergo sequential expert and government reviews during the year 2000 and the reports are expected to be completed by late 2000/early 2001. As I indicated you will be receiving a formal invitation to this meeting from IPCC in the near future but as the meeting is only a few months away I thought it advisable to let you know as soon as possible that you will be receiving an invitation. It would also be very useful for me to know if you are willing and able to attend the meeting so that replacements can be found for those unable to attend. I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully to your attendance at the meeting and involvement in the preparation of the TAR. Regards David Griggs Head IPCC Working Group I Technical Support Unit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr David Griggs IPCC WGI Technical Support Unit Hadley Centre Met Office London Road Bracknell Berks, RG12 2SY Tel: +44 (0)1344 856615 Fax: +44 (0)1344 856912 e-mail: djgriggs@meto .gov.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------