Category Archives: Climate modelling

Modelling city structure for improved urban representations in weather and climate models

By: Meg Stretton Urban areas are home to an increasingly large proportion of the world’s population, with more people living in cities than rural areas since 2007. These large population densities mean more people are vulnerable to extreme weather events, … Continue reading

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How to improve a climate model: a 24-year journey from observing melt ponds to their inclusion in climate simulations

By: David Schroeder Melt ponds are puddles of water that form on top of sea ice when the snow and ice melts (see Figure). Not all the water drains immediately into the ocean, but it can stay and accumulate on … Continue reading

Posted in Arctic, Climate modelling, Cryosphere, IPCC, Numerical modelling, Polar | Leave a comment

Two Flavours of Ocean Temperature Change and the Implication for Reconstructing the History of Ocean Warming

Introducing Excess and Redistributed Temperatures.  By: Quran Wu Monitoring and understanding ocean heat content change is an essential task of climate science because the ocean stores over 90% of extra heat that is trapped in the Earth system. Ocean warming … Continue reading

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Including Human Behaviour in Models to Understand the Impact of Climate Change on People

By Megan McGrory In 2020 56% of the global population lived in cities and towns, and they accounted for two-thirds of global energy consumption and over 70% of CO2 emissions. The share of the global population living in urban areas … Continue reading

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How On Earth Do We Measure Photosynthesis?

By: Natalie Douglas Photosynthesis is a biological process that removes carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere and is therefore a key process in determining the amount of climate change. So, how do we measure it so … Continue reading

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Oceanic Influences On Arctic And Antarctic Sea Ice

By: Jake Aylmer The futures of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice are difficult to pin down in part due to climate model uncertainty. Recent work reveals different ocean behaviours that have a critical impact on sea ice, highlighting a potential … Continue reading

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Outlook For The Upcoming UK Winter

By: Christopher O’Reilly In this post I discuss the outlook for the 2022/23 winter from a UK perspective: what do the forecasts predict and what physical drivers might influence the upcoming winter?  An important winter  The price of utilities has … Continue reading

Posted in Atmospheric circulation, Climate, Climate modelling, ENSO, North Atlantic, Oceans, Seasonal forecasting, Stratosphere, Teleconnections | Leave a comment

Weather vs. Climate Prediction

By: Annika Reintges Imagine you are planning a birthday party in 2 weeks. You might check the weather forecast for that date to decide whether you can gather outside for a barbeque, or whether you should reserve a table in … Continue reading

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Monitoring Climate Change From Space

Richard Allan It’s never been more crucial to undertake a full medical check-up for planet Earth, and satellite instruments provide an essential technological tool for monitoring the pace of climate change, the driving forces and the impacts on societies and … Continue reading

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Clouds, earth observation, Energy budget, Water cycle | Tagged | Leave a comment

What Is The World Climate Research Programme And Why Do We Need It?

By: Rowan Sutton My schedule last week was rather awry.  Over four days I took part in a meeting of 50 or so climate scientists from around the world.  Because of the need to span multiple time zones, the session … Continue reading

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