Changes in the PCAPS Steering Group
PCAPS has now reached its midway point - a milestone made possible only through the tireless contributions of the entire Steering Group and the wider PCAPS community. This milestone also marks a change in PCAPS leadership: on 1 September, Jørn Kristiansen stepped down as co-chair, and Clare Eayrs, Steering Group member and ORCAS Task Team co-lead, has taken over as interim PCAPS co-chair. Gunilla Svensson, has also stepped down from the Steering Group and as co-lead of the Processes Task Team.
PCAPS Steering Group at the annual 2026 PCAPS Steering Group Meeting, Oslo, August 2026. Photo credit: Ophélia Miralles
PCAPS has now reached its midway point - a milestone made possible only through the tireless contributions of the entire Steering Group and the wider PCAPS community. This milestone also marks a change in PCAPS leadership: on 1 September Jørn Kristiansen stepped down as co-chair, and Clare Eayrs, Steering Group member and ORCAS Task Team co-lead, has taken over as interim PCAPS co-chair.
Jørn had co-chaired PCAPS from the outset alongside continuing co-chair Daniela Liggett and shaped much of the project’s structure and focus, including the implementation plan, the International Coordination Office hosted at Met Norway, and the Steering Group and its Task Teams. In addition, his contributions included co-leading the PCAPS DON4FS (Distributed Observational Networks to Advance Coupled Forecasting Systems) Task Team with Malte Müller. Well-connected within the WMO Research Community, Jørn also served as a valuable conduit, helping to ensure PCAPS was well-represented and appropriately positioned within the wider WMO research agenda. We are extremely grateful for dedicated work over the years.
Jørn Kristiansen, outgoing natural science Co-chair (left); Clare Eayrs, incoming interim natural science Co-chair (middle); Gunilla Svensson, outgoing SG member and Processes Task Team co-lead (right)
We would also like to thank Gunilla for her contributions to PCAPS. Bringing years of relevant experience to her role as a PCAPS Steering Group member and as the co-lead of the Processes Task Team, she led the Task Team's work on describing the challenges coupled models face in representing polar processes. She also championed the merged observation and model data formats (MODF and MMDF) as a practical route to model evaluation. Much of this came together at a workshop she organised in Stockholm on 1–2 December 2025, which included a joint session with the Services & Actionability and Sustainability & Impact Task Teams on the forecasting value cycle, centred on visibility forecasting in the high Arctic. The Processes Task Team remains in good hands, with Andrew Orr continuing as co-lead while a successor to Gunilla is being sought.
An Open Call is currently open (deadline: 30 September 2026) to fill the two vacant positions on the PCAPS Steering Group. If you are interested in joining our vibrant, transdisciplinary team coordinating research into polar environmental forecasting and services, we encourage you to apply. Full details on how to apply can be found here.
We once again thank both, Jørn and Gunilla, for their instrumental roles in PCAPS' successful launch, and warmly welcome Clare into her new interim role.