The CLIVAR Atlantic Region Panel had a telecon on 23 October 2020. During the telecon, participants focused the discussion on the preparation of ARP annual report (2019-2020), ARP membership, as well as the alignment to WCRP implementation.

The major uptake from the meeting are as follows:

1. The CLIVAR/FIO Summer School on Ocean Macroturbulence and Its Role in Earth’s Climate led by ARP is still in wait-to-see mode. The summer school, scheduled for Qingdao, China, has been postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to COVID-19, and it remains unclear if an in-person meeting in summer, 2021, is tractable. The coordinator of the school suggested to postpone it to 2022 if it cannot be done in person in 2021. The issue will be revisited in January 2021.
2. The future plan of the panel is:
   • To finalize the Tropical Atlantic Observing System (TAOS) Review ASAP;
   • To contribute to the three focusing area of GOOS, i.e. the Integrated observing system design; Connecting to local communities (e.g. in Africa and Caribbean); and Integrating observations into the coast (from global to coastal);
   • To jointly organise/sponsor activities with AtlantOS;
   • To link more closely with society (e.g. via the cooperation with NGOs such as The Nature Conservancy on the application of coastal resilient tools);
   • To actively contribute to UN Ocean Decade;
3. The panel will enhance the membership representation for the southern hemisphere including a scientist from the Caribbean region;
4. The panel is interested in understanding the scientific and operational impacts of COVID-19 in particular to the Atlantic Ocean observations. Some information can be obtained from the Ocean Observing System Report Card 2020, OceanSITE survey on COVID-19 impact and maybe also from the Observations Coordination Group (OCG) of GOOS.

Immediately following the ARP telecon on Oct. 23, another telecon was arranged by ARP for Oct. 29 to discuss the new WCRP Lighthouse Activities initiative. This was led by Regina Rodrigues (co-chair of WCRP Lighthouse Activity on ‘My climate risks’) and participated in by seven ARP members, with the recording shared with those who cannot attend. Regina briefly introduced the ongoing progress for the WCRP implementation plan development, with particular foci on the proposed new structure of WCRP, the five lighthouse activities (Explaining and Predicting Earth System Change; My Climate Risk; Safe Landing Climates; Digital Earths; and WCRP Academy), and the regional consultation process. The panel then discussed the future linkages between the panel and WCRP LHAs. Regina, Susan, Franck, Maria Paz and Greg will form a working group within ARP to further explore the panel’s alignment and contribution to WCRP implementation. More information on the WCRP Implementation Plan/Lighthouse Activities can be found at https://www.wcrp-climate.org/wcrp-ip-la.