Category Archives: Space

Climate Change In The Ionosphere

Posted on 21 March, 2022 by danaallen

Christopher Scott There is much work being done to assess the impact of climate change on the lower atmosphere. Since this is the part of the Earth’s atmosphere affecting the planet’s surface, where (the bulk of!) life on Earth resides, … Continue reading →

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The Sun’s Magnetic Field: From Minutes To Millennia

Posted on 17 January, 2022 by danaallen

By: Mathew Owens The Sun’s magnetic field varies on all observed time scales. Knowing how the solar magnetic field has changed in the past helps us plan for hazardous conditions in the space environment in the future. It is also important … Continue reading →

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The Atmospheres of Two Exoplanets

Posted on 30 March, 2020 by danaallen

By: Peter Cook One of the big discoveries of recent decades has been the finding of thousands of exoplanets, and it now seems that most stars have planets.  Remarkably, detailed measurements have now been made of some of these despite … Continue reading →

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Do we have an appropriate description of energetic particles in the Earth’s outer radiation belt?

Posted on 16 September, 2019 by danaallen

By: Oliver Allanson Figure 1: A particle undergoes Brownian motion. The short answer: probably not, at least not all of the time. In our state-of-the-art and physics-based numerical experiments, we analyse the motion of 100 million individual high-energy electrons that evolve … Continue reading →

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Forecasting eclipse weather

Posted on 16 March, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Peter Clark                                    Department of Meteorology homepage Our weather is driven by energy radiating from the sun. The annual cycle of the earth’s … Continue reading →

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Reconstructing space climate

Posted on 2 February, 2015 by Stephen Burt

By Matt Owens The approximately 11-year cycle in the number of sunspots visible on the Sun was first identified more than 150 years ago, by Samuel Schwabe, and has been well-observed ever since. In fact, with the power of hindsight, … Continue reading →

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The wider legacy of Sir Robert Watson-Watt

Posted on 15 September, 2014 by Stephen Burt

By Chris Scott While lecturing in Dundee recently, I took the opportunity of visiting Pitlochry to pay my respects (Figure 1) to Sir Robert Watson-Watt, the inventor of RADAR recently profiled in the BBC drama ‘Castles in the Sky’. While … Continue reading →

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Surface Temperature of Earth – making connections

Posted on 23 June, 2014 by Stephen Burt

By Chris Merchant “Surface temperature” might seem to be a straightforward concept at first, but look more carefully, and things soon become rather complex. The temperatures quoted in the weather forecast are intended to represent the air temperature a metre … Continue reading →

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Tosca’s kiss – the effects of energetic particles on the atmosphere

Posted on 14 April, 2014 by Stephen Burt

By Giles Harrison, Professor of Atmospheric Physics The Sun is usually thought of as a fundamental source of visible radiation, but it also provides both a source of, and controlling influence on energetic particles which arrive in the earth’s atmosphere. … Continue reading →

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Successful launch of Sentinel 1

Posted on 7 April, 2014 by Stephen Burt

Sentinel 1 got off the ground successfully last Thursday, writes Dr Debbie Clifford (see https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/weather-and-climate-at-reading/2014/sentinel-a-new-chapter-in-climate-observation/). Launch was at 21.02 GMT from Korou, French Guiana: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2014/04/Sentinel-1A_liftoff The satellite then successfully performed ‘a carefully choreographed 10-hour dance routine to open its large radar … Continue reading →

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