Climate change is calling for various and multiple approaches in the adaptation of cities and mitigation of the coming changes. Because buildings (residential and commercial) are responsible of about 40% of energy consumption, it is necessary to build more energy efficient ones, to decrease their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. But what is the relation …[Read More]
Atmospheric Science
The art of turning climate change science to a crochet blanket
We welcome a new guest post from Prof. Ellie Highwood on why she made a global warming blanket and how you could the same! What do you get when you cross crochet and climate science? A lot of attention on Twitter. At the weekend I like to crochet. Last weekend I finished my latest project …[Read More]
What? Ice lollies falling from the sky?
You have more than probably eaten many lollipops as a kid (and you might still enjoy them. The good thing is that you do not necessarily need to go to the candy shop to get them but you can simply wait for them to fall from the sky and eat them for free. Disclaimer: this …[Read More]
Black Carbon: the dark side of warming in the Arctic
When it comes to global warming, greenhouse gases – and more specifically CO2 – are the most often pointed out. Fewer people know however that tiny atmospheric particles called ‘black carbon’ also contribute to the current warming. This post presents a paper my colleague and I recently published in Nature Communications . Our study sheds …[Read More]
Science Communication – Brexit, Climate Change and the Bluedot Festival
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 …[Read More]
How does weather affect volcanoes?
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 …[Read More]
Atmospheric Modelling with Meso-NH
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, …[Read More]
What is the biggest air pollution event in the modern era?
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 …[Read More]
How we might lose the battle against climate change … or against any other environmental problem?
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” …[Read More]