Author Archives: Stephen Burt

Confessions of an Admissions Tutor

Posted on 13 March, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Hilary Weller I am a postgraduate admissions tutor, so I see a lot of applications for PhD positions and I do a lot of interviewing. I would like to share some tips for applicants for PhD and post-doc positions … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Teaching & Learning, University of Reading | Leave a comment

An update on the North Atlantic cold blob (January 2017)

Posted on 6 March, 2017 by Stephen Burt

by Pablo Ortega One of the most remarkable climate events in the last two years has been an exceptional cooling in the eastern sub-polar North Atlantic (ESPNA, Figure 1), commonly referred to as “the cold blob”. Occurring while the planet … Continue reading →

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

HEPEX: a community of research and practice to advance hydrologic ensemble prediction

Posted on 27 February, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Hannah Cloke Although formal funded societies and projects can be very important in advancing research and improving how science is used, the unfunded voluntary community initiative of HEPEX has been one of the most important networks that I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Hydrology, Numerical modelling | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mountain waves, ship waves and duck waves

Posted on 20 February, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Miguel Teixeira There is a striking resemblance between some waves generated in the atmosphere in flow over isolated mountains and wave patterns in the wakes of ships, boats, or even ducks swimming in a pond. Typically, these waves are … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary layer, Waves | Leave a comment

Sea Surface Temperature Climate Data Record

Posted on 13 February, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Owen Embury Over 70% of the Earth’s surface is ocean and knowing its temperature is important for understanding both weather and climate. Historically sea surface temperature (SST) has been measured in situ – from ships and more recently from … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, earth observation, Historical climatology, Measurements and instrumentation, Remote sensing | Tagged | Leave a comment

THE BRAVE PROJECT – Annual meeting, January 2017, Ghana

Posted on 6 February, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Galine Yanon – Walker Institute The overall objective of the BRAVE project is to quantify the impacts of climatic variability and change on groundwater supplies from low storage aquifers in Africa. More than 40 institutions from Burkina Faso, Ghana … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, Hydrology, Teaching & Learning | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Measuring radiation with aircraft

Posted on 23 January, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Peter Hill In my career as an atmospheric scientist I’ve relied on observational data from a wide range of sources including satellite imagery, surface measurements, ground-based and satellite based radar, and aircraft measurements. Last July I had my first … Continue reading →

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

Childhood white Christmases: nostalgia or reality?

Posted on 16 January, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Inna Polichtchouk Nearly every Christmas, I travel back to Finland in the hope of celebrating Christmas Eve in the well below freezing temperatures surrounded by a plethora of snow. My childhood memory of this magical day begins with a cross-country … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate | Leave a comment

Geoengineering – how could we detect its cooling effect?

Posted on 9 January, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Eunice Lo Sulphate aerosol injection (SAI) is one of the geoengineering proposals that aim to reduce future surface temperature rise in case ambitious carbon dioxide mitigation targets cannot be met.  Climate model simulations suggest that by injecting 5 Tg of sulphur dioxide gas … Continue reading →

Posted in Aerosols, Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Geoengineering | Tagged | Leave a comment

Lakes from space

Posted on 12 December, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Laura Carrea For the first time satellite technology has been used to make a census of global inland water cover. A number of 117 million lakes, reservoirs and wetlands of area >0.002 km2 have been found summing up to a … Continue reading →

Posted in earth observation, Hydrology, land use, Remote sensing | Tagged | Leave a comment