Meteorology Department News

Reading scientists comment on UK Climate Change Risk Assessment

Release Date : 26 January 2012

Published today (26 January 2012), the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment provides a national overview of the impacts of climate change - those that pose the most pressing risks to the UK - but also the opportunities.

It is the Government's first risk assessment as required under the Climate Change Act 2008. The assessment marks the first major step in the Government's programme to help the country prepare for the risks and opportunities that climate change could bring.

Find out more and see how research from the Walker Institute at the University of Reading has helped inform the new report. 

Professor Nigel Arnell, Walker Institute Director, University of Reading, said: "The Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) represents a vital step in highlighting and managing the risks and opportunities from climate change in the UK.  The assessment looks at possible impacts of climate change across a range of sectors, through the 21^st century. The assessment identifies coastal and river flooding, heat waves and pressure on water resources  as some of the most pressing risks for the UK.

"The language of risk is essential when addressing climate change, because, while we can expect the UK to get warmer, we don't know all the details of how temperature and rainfall will change at a particular place.  The language of risk resonates with business and provides a way to build climate change adaptation in to plans for the future.

"While the assessment provides a national overview, risks will depend on the particular business you are in. Many of these risks will be complex, and many may arise from climate changes in other parts of the world. It is important for organisations to assess their own individual risks and how they may adapt to them, and this needs close cooperation between the scientific community, public sector and business. The CCRA provides an excellent starting point for this cooperation."

Professor Rowan Sutton, Climate Director in the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, said: "Assessing the risks that climate change poses to the UK is a vital and urgent task, and one which involves numerous scientific challenges.

"The first UK Climate Change Risk assessment is an important landmark. As well as raising awareness about the risks we face, it highlights the need for further research to refine our knowledge in order to provide more detailed advice which policy and decision makers need to design cost-effective adaptation strategies."

Reading's top players working together to become more sustainable

Release Date : 16 January 2012

More than 100 delegates attended an initial conference to start the planning process for Reading's next Climate Change Strategy at the University of Reading on Thursday 12^th January.

The event, hosted at the University's Palmer building on the Whiteknights campus, marks the beginning of a process that will see businesses, residents, and the public sector across Reading joining forces to forge a sustainable future for the town.

Delegates were challenged by speaker Dennis Moynihan, from the Institute for Sustainability, to 'make the magic happen' by bringing about a sustainable and prosperous future for people in Reading.

Sally Coble from the Environment Agency and chair of the Reading Climate Change Partnership, who organised the event, said: "Partnership working is the key to making the magic happen. We're going to need all the major players involved and Thursday's event was a great way to start this off."

Sir David Bell, the University of Reading's Vice-Chancellor, opened the event by welcoming leaders from Reading's businesses, community and public sector bodies.

"The University is delighted to host this consultation on climate change," he said.

"With our Centre for Food Security, Walker Institute for Climate Research and our Technologies for Sustainable Built Environments Centre, we are proud of our research and teaching excellence in this area and take seriously our role as a major player in the Reading Climate Change Partnership."

Peter Harper, Head of Research and Innovation at the Centre for Alternative Technology and co-author of Zero Carbon Britain, was the keynote speaker at the event, outlining a practical but radical option for Reading to play its part in helping the UK cut carbon emissions to zero by 2030.

Sally Coble, Chair of the Reading Climate Change Partnership and Ben Burfoot, Sustainability Manager at Reading Borough Council, presented an update on the progress so far on the current climate change strategy for Reading, which runs until 2013.

Delegates then split into workshops to put together initial proposals for the next strategy, which will need to see radical and positive change if Reading is to achieve a low-carbon future resilient to the effects of climate change.

Further information on the development of the climate change strategy will be hosted by the business community on Reading Green Business network website www.rgbn.org.uk over the coming months. The draft strategy will be out for public consultation in the summer.

University honours distinguished climate scientist

Release Date : 22 December 2011

The University of Reading was proud to award an Honorary Degree to one of the world's foremost climate scientists at this year's December Graduation Ceremony.

Professor Julia Slingo, Chief Scientist at the Met Office and a leading figure in climate research for more than 30 years, was awarded a Doctor of Science.

Julia has made significant and lasting contributions to many aspects of climate science and is best known for her work on clouds, which remain a primary source of uncertainty in climate models, and the meteorology of the tropics. 

Professor Slingo has held the most senior roles in climate science. She has contributed to the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, and to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Julia has a long association with the University of Reading. She was a member of staff for nearly 20 years, from 2002 as Director of NCAS-Climate, the Climate Division of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science.  In 2006 she founded the University's Walker Institute for Climate System Research.

Professor Slingo was presented with her Honorary Degree by Professor Stephen Belcher, the Joint Met Office Chair in Weather Systems at Reading, and until recently Head of the University's School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

He said: "The University was delighted to recognise Julia in this way. Her work has clearly shown the different controlling influences of the oceans and the maritime continents on tropical climate, and the important part this then plays in the global climate, seasonal prediction and climate change. Through this work she has shaped our understanding and our response to the dangers posed by climate change facing India, China and some of the most vulnerable countries of the world."

In 2008 Professor Slingo became the first female President of the Royal Meteorological Society and was awarded an OBE for services to climate science. Since 2009 Julia has been the Chief Scientist at the UK Met Office.

Professor Slingo said: "This is a huge personal honour from the university where I spent many happy years and achieved my most productive research. To be recognised in this way by my friends and colleagues has given me enormous pleasure and I am glad that I have been able to play a part in the growing reputation of Reading's world-leading Department of Meteorology."

The 2011 December Graduation Ceremony took place on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 December.

ENDS

For all media enquiries please contact James Barr, University of Reading Press Officer on 0118 378 7115 or by email on j.w.barr@reading.ac.uk

2011 - The second hottest year on record in Reading.

2011 was the second warmest year locally on record, with only 2006 being warmer. This statistic is possibly the most surprising one of the year – the summer was cool and dull, but was compensated for by warm, dry and sunny spring and autumn seasons; even December was on the mild side this year in contrast to 2010. While 30°C was not reached this year, there were many very warm or hot days during these two seasons – and the year exhibited a marked lack of low temperatures, the lowest being just -4.2°C which occurred rather late in the winter in March.

Unfortunately, heatwaves were short-lived, usually being 2-3 days in length. The mean maximum temperature in 2011 was (at 15.6°C) higher than that in 2006 but below that in 2003 when the summer was much hotter.

Sunshine exhibited an unusual distribution during the year; after 227.3h of sunshine during a sunny April (this total was 42% above the average) the sunshine duration recorded in the seven subsequent months was less in each case than in the preceding month – although the months of June to September each had very similar sunshine amounts. Even October had only one hour per day less sunshine than June.

There were few days with thunder or snow during the year, while about 10 per cent of the year’s rain fell in a few hours in August on the 18th. Overall rainfall was only 3 per cent less than what we would expect in a year – the spring and autumn were dry but the summer rather wet.

Other features of the weather in 2011

• The minimum temperature of 12.7°C on 13 January made this one of the warmest January nights in the past 30 years.
• 17 January was the wettest January day for over 50 years and resulted in some localised flooding around the town the next day.
• 17 days were sunless in February; not since 1972 has February been so dull in the Reading area.
• It was the mildest February since 2002 with the lowest number of February air frosts since 1995.
• March was a dry and sunny month – the driest March since 1987.
• Only 1.8mm of rain fell during April.
• April was the sunniest month of the year; in the past 50 years only 2007 and 1984 have been slightly sunnier in April.
• April was the hottest April for over 94 years locally – and the maximum temperature of 26.1°C on the 23rd was the highest April temperature since before 1961.
• May was the only month of the year to have sunshine on every day.
• May was colder during the day than April by 0.8degC.
• All three summer months (June to August) were cooler than average.
• 25°C was not reached during July – for only the third time since 1980.
• August was the wettest month of 2011, with 127mm being almost two and half times the average for August, making it the wettest August since 2004. Of this 59.5mm fell on the 18th – a day when the maximum temperature failed to reach 15°C - and this was the wettest of any day since 1992.
• The main heatwave of the year occurred during a sunny spell from 28 September to 3 October.
• A remarkable 27.8°C was recorded on 1 October – only 0.4degC below that recorded on 1 August, the hottest afternoon of 2011.
• October was warm, sunny and dry overall – probably one of the seven sunniest Octobers in the past 100 years locally.
• All three autumn months (September to November) were dry and warm.
• The year ended on a dull note with just 2h of sunshine in the final nine days, seven of which were sunless.

 

This summary of the weather of 2011, produced by Roger Brugge and Mike Stroud, is based on daily observations made at the University of Reading climatological station. For more details on the observations of 2011 contact r.brugge@reading.ac.uk.

Research team wins major European computing award for global climate modelling

Release Date : 07 November 2011

A significant step forward has been taken in the study of current and future climate with the award of a new grant that allows a team led by the University of Reading to use one of the world's most powerful computers.

The Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) Access Committee has granted substantial computing resources to a Joint Weather & Climate Research Programme (JWCRP) team of researchers.

The team comprises climate scientists at the Met Office and at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) Climate, and is led by Pier Luigi Vidale, Willis Professor of Climate System Science and Climate Hazards at the University of Reading's Meteorology department and Director of the Weather and Climate Hazards Laboratory.

Professor Vidale's team will use the HERMIT (a TIER-0 machine) supercomputer in Stuttgart, Germany, to conduct a series of 25-year simulations under both current climate conditions and a climate change scenario. Out of the 53 project applications submitted to PRACE, only 24 have been awarded a share of the available 610 million core-hours. The  JWCRP team has been awarded 144 million core-hours computing time, the largest amount assigned to one team.

Professor Vidale said: "With our current level of resources on national TIER-1 machines, this experiment would take 33 years to complete. Access to HERMIT is a true quantum-leap for UK climate science. We are grateful to PRACE for the continued international recognition of our team's world-leading capability in climate modelling."

PRACE is an association of 21 member countries creating a pan-European research infrastructure for large-scale scientific and engineering applications at the highest performance level.

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