Hold The Date: S2S2D Conference 2026

Preparations for the Third International Conference on Subseasonal to Seasonal to Decadal Prediction (S2S2D) are now well underway. The conference will take place in Reading, UK, from 7–11 September 2026 and is jointly organized by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), its Earth System Modelling and Observations (ESMO) Core Project and the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP).

This event will bring together scientists, producers, and users from across the world to share the latest scientific advances, strengthen collaboration, and explore applications of S2S2D prediction for the benefit of society in a changing climate.

The scientific programme will include sessions on the following topics:

• Climate Services Across Timescales
  S2S2D predictions are vital for informing near-term adaptation to extremes in our rapidly changing climate. This session will bring together practitioners and providers of S2S2D climate services to assess current capabilities and present exciting avenues for future development.

• Predictability and Prediction Skill
  The sources and mechanisms of S2S2D predictability are only partially understood and are incompletely represented in our climate prediction models. This session will bring together theoretical, modelling, and observational results to highlight current understanding and modelling capabilities and to inform future research and development of S2S2D climate predictions.

• Physics-based Prediction Systems
  S2S2D predictions are operational at a growing number of centres worldwide, but with numerous methodological choices and no clear consensus on optimal prediction system characteristics such as ensemble size, reforecast methods, observational inputs and initialization, or model resolution. This session will bring together researchers and operational providers to communicate new developments and future directions in physics-based S2S2D prediction systems to better optimize their design.

• Machine Learning Methods in S2S2D
  Earth-system prediction across time scales is undergoing a revolution as machine learning methods are showing comparable skill and much greater computational speed than traditional physics-based formulations. This session will survey ML methods for forecasting, post-processing, and other aspects of S2S2D prediction to highlight these exciting new developments and point towards where we might be heading next.

Abstract submissions will open in December 2025.
Further information on abstract submission, programme details, and logistics will be shared in the coming months via the conference website.

The conference is conceived as an in-person event in Reading, although live streaming of the sessions may be available.

We look forward to welcoming you to Reading in September 2026 for this important international gathering.