Category Archives: Oceans

Can we use future data to improve our knowledge of the ocean?

Posted on 11 September, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Chris Thomas An interesting problem in climate science is working out what happened in the world’s oceans in the last century. How did the temperature change, where were the currents strongest, and how much ice was there at the … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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The physics behind a physics scheme

Posted on 15 May, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Alan Grant When I joined the Met Office (or, as it was then, The Meteorological Office), I was posted to the boundary layer group. I spent a number of years investigating the atmospheric boundary layer, using data from aircraft … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Earth System Modelling in the UK

Posted on 12 September, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Till Kuhlbrodt Making climate projections for the next couple of decades is a pressing and complex task for the global climate modelling community. One of the most important purposes of modelling the future climate is to provide society and Government … Continue reading →

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The driving mechanism of large-scale unsteady currents in the ocean

Posted on 1 February, 2016 by Stephen Burt

By Antoine Hochet During the last twenty years, measurements of the ocean surface properties by satellite instruments have significantly increased our knowledge of ocean dynamics. One of these instruments is an altimeter that measures the topography of the ocean surface … Continue reading →

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The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew …

Posted on 19 October, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Ray Bell In winter-time when the temperature gradient between the pole and the equator sharpens, the North Atlantic becomes a breeding ground for intense storms (extratropical cyclones). Occasionally associated with intense winter storms is a ‘phenomenal sea state’ (WMO … Continue reading →

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