First Antarctic Climate Forum launched
First Antarctic Climate Forum launched
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and partners launched the first Antarctic Climate Forum in Cambridge, United Kingdom, on 28 – 29 January 2026, completing a global framework for climate services in polar and high-mountain regions.
Climate variability and changes in Antarctica have significant impacts on research, tourism, ecosystems and fishing activities, both within and beyond the continent, influencing global sea levels, ocean circulation, and weather patterns worldwide. What happens in the Antarctic region is therefore a matter of both local and global concern.
A coordinated framework for Antarctic climate services
WMO has long recognized the importance of Antarctic meteorology and the need for coordinated action. Efforts to extend Regional Climate Forums (RCFs) to polar regions gained momentum in 2008 during the International Polar Year, laying the foundation for a dedicated Antarctic Climate Forum.
Developing and delivering reliable climate information for Antarctica is uniquely complex. The continent lies outside the defined geographical boundaries of the WMO Regional Associations, although many WMO Members are engaged in its governance through the Antarctic Treaty System. WMO plays an important role in providing sustained, high-quality data to support climate monitoring and prediction products and services.
In response to these challenges, WMO decided to establish an Antarctic Regional Climate Centre-Network (AntRCC-Network) during the 70th Session of the WMO Executive Council in 2018. The network was designed as a collaborative technical mechanism operating to support Members’ activities, in full respect of the mandates and responsibilities of the Antarctic Treaty System, including the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes. It does not alter existing governance arrangements, but enhances technical coordination and service delivery within the WMO framework.
Two milestones laid the foundation for the AntRCC-Network: a scoping workshop in 2019 and an implementation planning meeting in 2022 that led to the development of an implementation plan defining the network’s functions and institutional arrangements.
Key outputs of the Antarctic Climate Forum
On 28 – 29 January 2026, WMO, in close collaboration with the Management Team of the proposed AntRCC-Network and the Antarctic Advisory Group of the Panel on Polar and High-Mountain Observations, Research and Services, convened the first Antarctic Climate Forum, in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The event was hosted by the British Antarctic Survey. Together with the Arctic Climate Forum and the Third Pole Climate Forum, the Antarctic Climate Forum completes the WMO pan-polar framework of RCFs. Together, these platforms strengthen the provision of climate services across polar and high-mountain regions.
For the first time, experts from National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), the proposed AntRCC-Network nodes and consortium members and other WMO Regional Climate Centres (RCCs), Antarctic research programmes and partner organizations, worked together to develop the first consensus statement. This included a summary of climate conditions in 2025 and a climate outlook for Antarctica and the southern Ocean for the period February – March – April 2026.
The outlook combines recent climate conditions with seasonal temperature and precipitation predictions from the WMO Lead Centre for Seasonal Prediction Multi-Model Ensemble, WMO Global Producing Centres, RCCs and NMHSs. Sectoral representatives outlined priority user needs, with particular emphasis on sea-ice monitoring to support logistics and mitigate environmental disasters. These outputs will help identify skill gaps and guide future improvements.
The establishment of the Antarctic Climate Forum marks the realization of a long-standing vision. The strong engagement and breadth of expertise underscores a shared commitment to establish the Forum as a durable and sustainable mechanism under the leadership of the proposed AntRCC-Network, as it prepares to enter its demonstration phase.
