Author Archives: Stephen Burt

Sunny, Windy Sundays

Posted on 4 September, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Daniel Drew Throughout the day National Grid (the system operator of the electricity network in Great Britain) must ensure there is a balance between the demand for electricity and the amount generated. Historically this has involved forecasting the level … Continue reading →

Posted in Renewable energy | Leave a comment

The Role of Synoptic Meteorology on UK Air Pollution

Posted on 14 August, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Chris Webber In the past year the issue of air pollution within the UK has been elevated, driven by the loss of life that it causes (in 2013 > 500,000 years of UK lives lost due to air pollution … Continue reading →

Posted in Aerosols, Atmospheric chemistry, Boundary layer, Environmental hazards, Urban meteorology | Tagged | Leave a comment

BoBBLE: Air-sea interactions and intraseasonal oscillations in the Bay of Bengal

Posted on 31 July, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Simon Peatman The Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) is one of the most significant features of the tropical climate. The heavy rain it brings during boreal summer provides around 80% of the annual precipitation over much of India with over 1 … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate modelling, Monsoons, Numerical modelling, Oceans | Tagged | Leave a comment

Time scales of atmospheric circulation response to CO2 forcing

Posted on 17 July, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Paulo Ceppi An important question in current climate change research is, how will atmospheric circulation change as the climate warms? When simulating future climate scenarios, models commonly predict a shift of the midlatitude circulation to higher latitudes in both … Continue reading →

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

What’s in a number?

Posted on 10 July, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Nancy Nichols Should you care about the numerical accuracy of your computer? After all, most machines now retain about 16 digits of accuracy, but usually only about 3-4 figures of accuracy are needed for most applications;  so what’s the … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate modelling, data assimilation, Numerical modelling, Weather forecasting | Leave a comment

A Presidential address …

Posted on 3 July, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Ellie Highwood I have been President of the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) for almost a year now (I will serve two years in total) and people keep asking me “how’s it going?” or “are you enjoying it?” Before I answer … Continue reading →

Posted in Royal Meteorological Society, Women in Science | Leave a comment

Belmont Forum: joined-up thinking from science funders

Posted on 26 June, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Vicky Lucas The Belmont Forum supports ‘international transdisciplinary research providing knowledge for understanding, mitigating and adapting to global environmental change’. The Belmont Forum fund research and themes include sustainability, climate predictability, ecosystem services and arctic observing.  The group considers … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate | Leave a comment

Soil Moisture retrieval from satellite SAR imagery

Posted on 19 June, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Keith Morrison Soil moisture retrieval from satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery uses the knowledge that the signal reflected from a soil is related to its dielectric properties. For a given soil type, variations in dielectric are controlled solely … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, earth observation, Hydrology, land use, Measurements and instrumentation, Numerical modelling, Remote sensing | Tagged | Leave a comment

Can observations of the ocean help predict the weather?

Posted on 12 June, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Amos Lawless It has long been recognized that there are strong interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean. For example, the sea surface temperature affects what happens in the lower boundary of the atmosphere, while heat, momentum and moisture … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary layer, data assimilation, Numerical modelling, Oceans, Weather forecasting | Leave a comment

It melts from the top too …

Posted on 5 June, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By David Ferreira The global sea level rises at about 3 mm/year. Oceans absorb nearly 90% of the heat trapped in the atmosphere by anthropogenic gases like carbon dioxide. As water warms, it expands: this effect explains about half of … Continue reading →

Posted in antarctica, Climate, Cryosphere, Oceans, Polar | Leave a comment