Category Archives: Numerical modelling

Don’t (always) blame the weather forecaster

Posted on 28 October, 2019 by danaallen

By: Ross Bannister There are (I am sure) numerous metaphors that suggest that a small, almost immeasurable event, can have a catastrophic outcome – that adding the proverbial straw to the load of the camel will break its back. In 1972, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate modelling, Numerical modelling, Predictability | Tagged | Leave a comment

High-resolution insights into future European winters

Posted on 21 October, 2019 by danaallen

By: Alexander Baker Figure 1: Observed UK rainfall anomaly as a percentage of 1981-2010 monthly average for (a) December 2013, (b) January 2014, and (c) February 2014. Figure from Huntingford et al. (2014). Most – roughly 70% – of Europe’s winter … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Climate modelling, extratropical cyclones, Numerical modelling | Leave a comment

Turbulence Matters

Posted on 14 October, 2019 by danaallen

By: Torsten Auerswald Most people are only consciously aware of the existence of turbulence when the pilot announces it. But apart from the discomfort of a bumpy flight, turbulence affects us in many other important aspects of daily life. The … Continue reading →

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Making the best use of HPC

Posted on 29 July, 2019 by danaallen

By: Grenville Lister High performance computing (HPC) is changing – there will be a new UK national service in early 2020 (and a period of time with no national service while the new platform is installed) – and the medium … Continue reading →

Posted in High performance computing, Numerical modelling | Leave a comment

The OpenIFS User Workshop

Posted on 17 June, 2019 by danaallen

By Bob Plant I’ve been asked to write a blog post to go live on 17 June, the opening day of the 2019 OpenIFS user workshop. As I’m involved in the organisation, it would almost seem strange not to talk … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Climate, extratropical cyclones, Numerical modelling, Teaching & Learning | Leave a comment

Convective self-aggregation: growing storms in a virtual laboratory

Posted on 15 April, 2019 by danaallen

By: Chris Holloway Figure 1: An example of convective self-aggregation from an RCE simulation using the Met Office Unified Model at 4km grid length with 300 K SST.  Time mean precipitation in mm/day for (a) Day 2 (still scattered), and … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate modelling, Numerical modelling, Tropical convection | Leave a comment

Modelling Ice Sheets in the global Earth System

Posted on 8 April, 2019 by danaallen

By: Robin Smith As Till wrote recently, our national flagship climate model (UKESM1, the UK Earth System Model) has been officially released for the community to use, after more than six years in development by a team drawn from across … Continue reading →

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

The Boundary Layer and Submesoscale Motions

Posted on 1 April, 2019 by danaallen

By: Alan Grant Science is an exciting career, although what you may consider to be exciting will depend on your field. Sometimes things get most exciting when what initially appears to be a frustrating problem turns into an interesting problem. … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary layer, Climate, Numerical modelling, Oceans | Leave a comment

Multi-fluids Modelling of Convection

Posted on 25 March, 2019 by danaallen

By: Hilary Weller Atmospheric convection – the dynamics behind clouds and precipitation – is one of the biggest challenges of weather and climate modelling. Convection is the driver of atmospheric circulation, but most clouds are smaller than the grid size … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Convection, Numerical modelling | Leave a comment

UKESM1 ready to use and in production for CMIP6

Posted on 25 February, 2019 by danaallen

By: Till Kuhlbrodt Development of the UK Earth System Model (UKESM1) has reached a major milestone. After six years of work on the model (see my earlier blog post here) the UKESM core group, and other scientists, are now running … Continue reading →

Posted in Atmospheric chemistry, Climate, Climate modelling, Numerical modelling | Tagged | Leave a comment