Category Archives: Numerical modelling

Seasonal Forecasting and the 2018 European Heatwave

Posted on 26 November, 2018 by danaallen

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

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

Smoke, science, and sharks

Posted on 5 November, 2018 by hjia

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

Storylines of regional climate change

Posted on 22 October, 2018 by hjia

By Giuseppe Zappa  An outstanding question for climate science is quantifying how global warming will regionally affect the aspects of climate that are most directly relevant to society, such as precipitation, windiness and extremes. But achieving this task is proving … Continue reading →

Posted in Atmospheric circulation, Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Greenhouse gases, Numerical modelling, Stratosphere | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mechanisms of Climate Change in the Indian Summer Monsoon

Posted on 8 October, 2018 by hjia

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

Image conscious atmospheric science

Posted on 1 October, 2018 by hjia

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 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Clouds, climate and the Roaring 40s

Posted on 17 September, 2018 by hjia

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 hjia

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 hjia

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

Sting jets in winter storms : how do the winds get so strong?

Posted on 20 August, 2018 by hjia

By Ambrogio Volonté Figure 1: Windstorm Tini (12 Feb 2014) passes over the British Isles bringing extreme winds. A sting jet has been identified in the storm. Image courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory The arrival of a winter storm battering … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate change, extratropical cyclones, Monsoons, Numerical modelling, University of Reading, Weather forecasting | Tagged , | Leave a comment