Latest News - Richard P. Allan
Latest tweets (below)
Latest CO2 concentrations and growth rates
Tweets by @rpallanuk
Here is a list of some of my latest news.
9th September 2021 - Longer dry spells and later wet seasons projected for tropical regions (research in J. HydroMet. and press release; see also SA Business Insider)
1st September 2021 - interview with BBC Scotland about WMO report on weather-related disasters since the 1970s and link to climate change (also Al Jazeera Inside Story)
9th August 2021 - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th assessment report on the physical science basis released (as an author I also contributed to the SMC briefing, BBC 5Live, BBC World Service, Guardian, Al Jazeera/Inside Story, Washington Post, ITV, etc...)
29th July 2021 - State of the UK Climate report (Science Media Centre, Sky News, Guardian)
21st July 2021 - extreme rainfall and flooding over Europe and the challenge of simulating fine detail impacts (CNN, GB news, SMC & The Times)
5th July 2021 - Comments on North American heatwave - Science Media Centre
27th May 2021 - SMC quote on Met Office Met Office predictions the planet may cross 1.5oC warming threshold in one of the next 5 years (also interviewd on BBC World News and News 24)
30th April 2021 - interview will NOVA radio on new government emissions cut targets and the recent UN report on the state of the climate
19th April 2021 - comments on WMO state of the climate report to SMC, Guardian and Independent
April 2021 - interviewd by BBC Weather World on extreme precipitation
9th September 2020 - contribution to Physics World article asking: Has the COVID-19 lockdown changed Earth’s climate?
20th August 2020 - Independent article reports lowest expected wheat yields in 40 years
12th August 2020 - State of the climate 2019 and comment at SMC
31st July 2020 - Comments on State of UK climate report in Independent and SMC
9th July 2020 - Comments on climate mitigation to Wall Street Journal and Science Media Centre
8th July 2020 - New paper led by Matthew Menary on changes in the Atlantic ocean circulation published by Geophysical Research Letters
October 29th 2016: Our Educational material for schools on climate change developed by RMetS, RGS and NCAS Climate was commended at the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers awards
October 15th 2016 - BBC World interview about the recent deal to phase out potent HFC greenhouse gases
Return to top
Return to top
Older News
October 2011:
University of Reading joins International Space Innovation Centre
Complex mathematical representations of Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land are required to make realistic predictions of future weather and climate. Satellite data is becoming increasingly important in evaluating and improving the physical representation of simulations of planet Earth that are made by these detailed computer models. For example, since 2003, Met Office weather forecast model simulations have been routinely scrutinised through comparisons with GERB satellite measurements of the Earth's radiative energy balance. Detailed analysis has been undertaken to understand and improve the simulation of cloud processes, examining the radiative properties of cirrus cloud from aircraft condensation trails and identifying the the greenhouse effect of desert dust.
As part of the commitment to the exploitation of satellite data in monitoring and measuring the workings of planet Earth's environment, the University of Reading has joined ISIC. Read more...
Above: Radiative energy (units: Wm-2) emanating from planet Earth at 6am GMT on Monday 24 October 2011 as simulated by the Met Office global forecast model and the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) satellite instrument.
Dark regions in the image denote high altitude cloud, with cold tops that only weakly emit thermal infra-red (or longwave) radiative energy out to space. Relatively cloud-free, hot regions, such as Saudi Arabia in the image, emit strongly in the longwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum and appear light in the image above. This image was produced as part of the joint University of Reading and Met Office SINERGEE project (see article describing method), funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.
Return to top
September 2011:
Intensified flows of moisture into the tropical rainy belt
Moisture is the fuel for tropical storms. Since they typically rain out in a day more water than is contained in the column of atmosphere, rain storms rely on a convergence of water vapour from surrounding regions. As part of the Natural Environment Research Council PREPARE project, work lead by project scientist, Matthias Zahn, has indicated an intensification of the inflow of moisture at low levels and outflow higher up in the tropical atmosphere over the last 2 decades (see Figure which depicts changes in moisture inflow into the tropical wet regions 1989-2008). 
We found that detailed calculations every 6 hours were required to accurately follow the flows of moisture and our results have implications for the tropical water cycle and the intensity of rainfall. Further work is required to understand the changes in tropical circulation and its implications for changes in precipitation patterns. This work was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
Return to top
Changes in Earth's radiative energy balance 1985-2010
In an article published in Meteorological Applications I put together the latest estimates of changes in the amount of energy entering the top of Earth's atmosphere. This comprises incoming sunlight, the outgoing reflected sunlight and the outgoing thermal emission of longwave radiation. The diagram below shows how this net flux changes from month to month (after removing the normal seasonal changes) based on satellite data (ERBS and CERES) and from reanalysis data which combines weather forecast models with observations:
Estimates of near-global changes in (a) the net flux of energy into the top of the atmosphere (Net) and (b) the cloud radiative effect (NetCF) on this energy balance calculated by removing the simulated clear-sky fluxes (both in Watts per metre squared) since 1985 (the region considered is 60oS-60oN).
The warm El Niño years of 1998 and 2010 are characterised by negative departures from the norm. This is a result of natural shifts in the distributions of water vapour, cloud and surface temperature. Also prominent is a drop in net flux following the Pinatubo volcanic eruption in 1991 visible in the ERBS satellite data. Reflective particles called aerosol entering the stratosphere following the eruption increased the reflectivity of the planet (this is not seen in the reanalysis model since the volcano was not included and so the NetCF shows the influence of aerosol and cloud on the radiation balance; climate models can actually capture volcanic induced changes in the energy budget quite well).
Future work is endeavouring to understanding in more detail the bumps and dips in this graph which may tell us more about how the climate responds to small yet persistent radiative imbalances that determine whether our climate warms of cools. At present, human influences on the atmosphere have caused the Earth to receive more energy each year than it loses to space, resulting in a heating of the oceans.
Return to top
Return to top
Blog posts
See also Department of Meteorology Blogs
Return to top
Richard P. Allan Location: Department of Meteorology (2U15)
