Category Archives: Environmental hazards

Cycling In All Weathers

By: David Brayshaw In a few weeks’ time, I’ll be taking some time off for an adventure: spending 3-weeks cycling the entire 3,400 km of this year’s Tour de France (TdF) route.  I’ll be with a team riding just a … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Services, Environmental hazards, Seasonal forecasting, subseasonal forecasting | Leave a comment

Making Flights Smoother, Safer, and Greener

By: Paul Williams Atmospheric turbulence is the leading cause of weather-related injuries to air passengers and flight attendants. Bumpy air is estimated to cost the global aviation sector up to $1bn annually, and evidence suggests that climate change is causing … Continue reading

Posted in aviation, Climate, Environmental hazards, Turbulence | Leave a comment

How Can We Improve the Health Sector’s Climate Resilience?

By: Katty Huang and Andrew Charlton-Perez The Problem Weather and climate can have great impacts on human health. One aspect of this is in relation to temperature exposure. In the UK, around 9% of deaths are associated with too warm … Continue reading

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Seasonal Forecasting and the 2018 European Heatwave

By Len Shaffrey The summer of 2018 has been one of the warmest on record in the UK and Europe. Warm temperatures over the summer led to impacts on agriculture, water resources and human health. One interesting question is how predictable … Continue reading

Posted in Atlantic, Atmospheric circulation, Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Environmental hazards, Historical climatology, Hydrology, Numerical modelling, Seasonal forecasting, Waves | Leave a comment

Smoke, science, and sharks

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

Mechanisms of Climate Change in the Indian Summer Monsoon

By Jon Shonk Over one billion people are reliant on the rainfall of the Indian Summer Monsoon. During the wet season, which usually spans June to September, some parts of India receive over 90% of their total annual rainfall. Deficits … Continue reading

Posted in Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Environmental hazards, Flooding, Monsoons, Numerical modelling, Oceans | Tagged | Leave a comment

Why was the sky Orange?

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

Climate change in the Mediterranean Sea

By Fanny Adloff The Mediterranean is the largest semi-enclosed sea on our planet. Acting as a miniature ocean, this basin is appropriate to study climate change impact on the ocean. The residence time of the Mediterranean waters – of about … Continue reading

Posted in Climate change, Climate modelling, Environmental hazards, Oceans | Leave a comment

Skirting the Issue

By Geoff Wadge During a major explosive volcanic eruption a set of three main processes transfers mass and heat from the solid earth to the atmosphere. These three processes are: a gas thrust (jet) extending up from the volcanic vent, … Continue reading

Posted in Aerosols, Environmental hazards, Environmental physics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Playful floods

By Sanita Vetra-Carvalho Flooding is no fun for those who have been affected by it. However, being able to ‘experience’ flooding in some sense is one of the best ways to communicate flood risks as well as the potential solutions to … Continue reading

Posted in Environmental hazards, Flooding, Hydrology | Tagged | Leave a comment