Category Archives: earth observation

Mapping bio-UV products from space

Posted on 6 May, 2019 by danaallen

By: Michael Taylor Solar radiation arriving at the Earth’s surface in the UV part of the spectrum modulates photosynthetically-sensitive life on the land and in the oceans. UV radiation also drives important chemical reaction pathways in the atmosphere that impact … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, earth observation, Remote sensing, Solar radiation | Leave a comment

Is it a normal season this year for tropical cyclones in the Western North Pacific?

Posted on 19 November, 2018 by danaallen

By Xiangbo Feng  The Western North Pacific (WNP) is the most active area for tropical cyclones (TCs).  The number of TCs occurred in the WNP so far (end of October) this year is 26 – just the average number of … Continue reading →

Posted in Atmospheric circulation, Climate, Climate modelling, earth observation, ENSO, Equatorial waves, Historical climatology, Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), Numerical modelling, Seasonal forecasting, Tropical cyclones, Waves, Weather forecasting, Western North Pacific, Wind | Leave a comment

Characteristics and enhanced quality control of drifting buoy observations of sea surface temperature from the International Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS)

Posted on 12 November, 2018 by

By Simone Morak-Bozzo Over the last two decades drifting buoys have become the most prevalent in situ measurement method for sea surface temperature(SST). Drifting buoy data are particularly popular because of their high spatial and temporal coverage. Their freedom of … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Data collection, Data processing, earth observation, Measurements and instrumentation | Leave a comment

Smoke, science, and sharks

Posted on 5 November, 2018 by

By Ross Herbert In the August of 2017 the Cloud-Aerosol-Radiation Interactions and Forcing – Year 2017 (CLARIFY) measurement campaign took place on a tiny island in the middle of the southeast Atlantic Ocean where we were surrounded by whales, sharks, … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic, Atmospheric chemistry, Atmospheric circulation, Atmospheric optics, Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Clouds, Data collection, earth observation, Energy budget, Environmental hazards, Greenhouse gases, Measurements and instrumentation, Microphysics, Numerical modelling, Solar radiation, Weather forecasting, Wind | Tagged | Leave a comment

Determining the Earth’s energy and water cycles

Posted on 26 October, 2018 by

By Christopher Thomas The Earth’s energy and water cycles govern the distribution and movement of energy and water in the atmosphere, oceans and land. Both energy and water are constantly being transported between different regions of the globe, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Data processing, earth observation, Energy budget, ENSO, Hydrology, Solar radiation, Water cycle | Leave a comment

How the Hadley Cells work

Posted on 15 October, 2018 by

By Gui-Ying Yang The Hadley Cell, named after British meteorologist George Hadley who discovered this tropical atmospheric overturning circulation, is one of the basic concepts in weather and climate. Figure 1 shows the zonal mean overturning circulation in a latitude height … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, earth observation, Equatorial waves, extratropical cyclones, Tropical convection, Troposphere, Waves, Wind | Tagged | Leave a comment

Image conscious atmospheric science

Posted on 1 October, 2018 by

By Giles Harrison A frequently-heard mantra in physics is “Like charges repel and unlike charges attract”. At face value this paraphrase of Coulomb’s Law seems useful for clouds too, as, quite apart from the obvious example of thunderclouds, water drops … Continue reading →

Posted in Clouds, earth observation, Measurements and instrumentation, Microphysics, Numerical modelling, University of Reading, Weather | Tagged | Leave a comment

Clouds, climate and the Roaring 40s

Posted on 17 September, 2018 by

By Richard Allan In our new research we have traced large and long-standing biases in computer simulations of climate, affecting the tempestuous Southern Ocean, to errors in cloud that emerge rapidly within the atmospheric models. Biases evolve over time through … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Clouds, earth observation, Energy budget, Numerical modelling, Oceans, Solar radiation | Leave a comment

Why was the sky Orange?

Posted on 10 September, 2018 by

By William Davies I was sitting in my house one morning in October 2017, engrossed in what I was doing. Gradually I noticed that an eerie darkness was smothering the natural light in the room. I stopped and looked outside. … Continue reading →

Posted in Aerosols, Atmospheric chemistry, Atmospheric optics, Climate, Climate modelling, earth observation, Environmental hazards, Numerical modelling, Remote sensing, University of Reading | Leave a comment

Characteristics of cumulus population and microphysical properties observed over Southeast Atlantic

Posted on 28 August, 2018 by

By Yann Blanchard Figure 1. Cumulus in the vicinity of Ascension Island, in a 100 x 100km image (which is close to global climate model spatial resolution) from MODIS onboard AQUA (22 July 2016) Shallow cumulus cover large areas in … Continue reading →

Posted in Aerosols, Atlantic, Atmospheric chemistry, Climate modelling, earth observation, Numerical modelling, Oceans, Remote sensing, Solar radiation, University of Reading | Leave a comment