Atmospheric Science

Science Communication – Brexit, Climate Change and the Bluedot Festival

Thomas Webb August 26, 2016

Jodrell Bank Lovell Telescope at the Bluedot Festival, Cheshire, UK. Image credit (http://www.discoverthebluedot.com/)

Earlier this summer journalists, broadcasters, writers and scientists gathered in Manchester, UK for the Third European Conference of Science Journalists (ECSJ) arranged by two prestigious organisations. Firstly, the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) who provides support to those who write about science and technology in the UK through debates, events and awards. Secondly the European ...[Read More]

How does weather affect volcanoes?

Thomas Webb February 23, 2016

Clouds, volcanic plume and fog around Mount Bromo, Indonesia. (Image credit: Sudiono Muji)

I was taking a plane trip home recently. To kill the time I got talking with the person sitting next to me and naturally one of their first questions was to ask me what I did for a living. To avoid a complicated discussion about the nuances of my research I summarised – ‘I am a volcanic meteorologist’. They were interested and wanted to know all about how volcanoes affect the weather, ...[Read More]

Atmospheric Modelling with Meso-NH

Thomas Webb October 12, 2015

Ecole Nationale de Météorologie, Météo-France, Toulouse - site of Meso-NH tutorial. (Image credit: http://www.toulouse-tourisme.com)

Twice a year in Toulouse Meteo-France runs a tutorial on Meso-NH – the non-hydrostatic mesoscale atmospheric model of the French research community. Last week I was fortunate enough to attend their autumn 2015 tutorial. But, what is this model and was the tutorial useful? Atmospheric models solve the governing equations for atmospheric motions. This allows us, for example, to forecast future ...[Read More]

What is the biggest air pollution event in the modern era?

Thomas Webb June 24, 2015

Centre of the Laki fissure, Iceland today. Credit: Daniele Trippanera (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

It’s hard to think of the scale of the biggest air pollution event in the modern era. Immediately my mind conjures up memories of black and white photographs of the Great London Smog of 1952. Then I start thinking bigger, how about the 1.2 billion vehicles world-wide on the road churning out nitrogen dioxide every single day? Well these are a drop in the ocean compared with bigger industrial pollu ...[Read More]

How we might lose the battle against climate change … or against any other environmental problem?

Dasaraden Mauree March 6, 2015

Smog over the East coast of China (Copyright: NASA)

This would not be a blog about atmospheric science if I did not talk about climate change. But I won’t be talking about the science of climate change… there are numerous blogs including here that will talk much better about this. The problem that will be addressed here does not only refer to the “battle” we are currently facing with climate but also numerous other environmental issues ...[Read More]