Author Archives: danaallen

Antarctic Sea Ice: The Global Climate Driver Of The South

Posted on 19 April, 2022 by danaallen

By: Holly Ayres In the Northern Hemisphere, our closest region of sea ice (not to be confused with land ice) is the Arctic, a vast region of frozen ocean at the North Pole. Antarctica, a huge mountainous land mass at … Continue reading →

Posted in Antarctic, Arctic, Atmospheric circulation, Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Cryosphere, Oceans, Polar | Leave a comment

Investigating Clouds With New Radar Technology

Posted on 28 March, 2022 by danaallen

By: Christopher Westbrook Since I joined the University of Reading in 2005 as a research assistant, I have been using radars at the Chilbolton Observatory to study the processes in clouds. I’m very excited at the moment to be part … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Clouds, Microphysics, radar, Remote sensing | Leave a comment

Climate Change In The Ionosphere

Posted on 21 March, 2022 by danaallen

Christopher Scott There is much work being done to assess the impact of climate change on the lower atmosphere. Since this is the part of the Earth’s atmosphere affecting the planet’s surface, where (the bulk of!) life on Earth resides, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Space | Tagged | Leave a comment

Tropical Cyclone Precipitation In High Resolution Model

Posted on 7 March, 2022 by danaallen

By: Benoit Vanniere I’ll take the opportunity of this blog to present a result which continues to puzzle me and which I still haven’t found a full explanation for: why does tropical cyclone precipitation depend so little on the resolution … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, High-Resolution Climate modelling, Tropical cyclones, Water cycle | Tagged | Leave a comment

Climate Change 2021—The Physical Science Basis

Posted on 1 March, 2022 by danaallen

By: Jonathan Gregory, Ed Hawkins, Matt Palmer This document is a short summary of key points that are of current relevance to society from the physical science of climate change. It is based on the headline statements of the report … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Environmental physics, Greenhouse gases, IPCC | Leave a comment

Where Do All My Balloons Go?

Posted on 21 February, 2022 by danaallen

By: Andrew K. Mirza Turbulence! If you have ever travelled by aeroplane, then you may have experienced atmospheric turbulence during the flight: It is when the captain switches on the seat-belt sign; requests all passengers return to their seats and … Continue reading →

Posted in Atmospheric dispersion, Boundary layer, Greenhouse gases, Numerical modelling, Turbulence, Wind | Leave a comment

Why should we care about sea ice floes?

Posted on 14 February, 2022 by danaallen

By: Adam Bateson One of the most frequently used visual devices to illustrate climate change is that of a polar bear on sea ice surrounded by open ocean (Fig. 1). Polar bears are today identified as a vulnerable species, with sea ice decline the … Continue reading →

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

Atmospheric CO2, fossil fuel emissions, Shared Socioeconomic Pathways and the Paris Agreement.

Posted on 7 February, 2022 by danaallen

By: Tristan Quaife The Paris Agreement, which is signed by 193 countries belonging to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, aims to limit the rise in global mean temperature to 2°C, and ideally 1.5°C, above pre-industrial levels. To achieve … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Greenhouse gases | Leave a comment

How To Find A Planet

Posted on 1 February, 2022 by danaallen

By Jochen Broecker To make this clear straight away: this entry will only marginally touch upon weather and climate, but it will not be entirely unrelated altogether. Since you are reading this blog you must be interested in the natural sciences … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Climate, History of Science | Leave a comment

2021 Weather Ups and Downs In Reading

Posted on 24 January, 2022 by danaallen

By Roger Brugge Averages and anomalies mentioned in this report refer to the climatological period 1991-2020. Historical records date back to 1901 for rainfall, 1956 for sunshine and to 1908 for most other weather elements. 2021 seemed to be a year … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Historical climatology, Sunshine, Temperature | Tagged , | Leave a comment