The SPARC Project: Analysis and modeling of climate variability and change in the stratosphere

The program of the WCRP Core Project entitled Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC) has three overarching themes: (1) Stratospheric Chemistry and Climate, (2) Detection, Attribution, and Prediction of Stratospheric Change, and (3) Stratosphere-troposphere coupling. The SPARC Project addresses the scientific questions that are central to each of these themes by organizing and facilitating research activities within the international SPARC community in topic areas that include modeling, process studies and data analysis. This paper will present highlights of recent results of SPARC activities that address key scientific questions such as the coupling between recovery of stratospheric ozone and climate change. It will conclude with an overview of the future of the SPARC project in the context of the evolution of the World Climate Research Program.