A career in Meteorology Name: Job: Email:

A career in Meteorology

Name:

Job:

Email:

Before we start lets take a look at some interesting weather pictures…

What are we going to cover?

• All about me

• Meteorology and me

• The Royal Meteorological Society

• Potential career paths

• Meteorological qualifications

• Employers

• Forecasting

• Climate change

All about me...

• E.g. Qualifications, job, where you studied, interests, photo

Meteorology and me

• Meteorological qualifications, experience

Why am I interested in Meteorology?

Text and picture here

Examples of subjects I studied in Meteorology

Examples could include:

• Numerical Methods for Initial Value Problems • Theory of Differential Equations • Introduction to Weather Systems • Fluid Dynamics of the Atmosphere and Oceans • Atmospheric Physics • Computing Techniques• Climate Change• Extra-tropical Weather Systems• Numerical Methods for Boundary Value Problems • Numerical Modelling of the Atmosphere and Oceans• Global Circulation of the Atmosphere and Oceans

Other possible areas of study

• Industrial Modelling • Current Weather Discussions • Finite Element Methods • Conservation Laws • Data Assimilation • Tropical Weather Systems • Oceanography • Hydrology and Global Change • Remote Sensing • Forecasting Course

About the Royal Meteorological Society

Public Engagement

Raising awareness

Membership

Events

Strategy

Merchandise

Enquiries

Our aim : ‘To advance the understanding of weather and climate, the science and its applications,

for the benefit of all’.

People at RMetS

Chief Executive

Prof. Paul Hardaker

Rachael Fordham

Interim Head of Education

Head of Communications

Dr. Liz Bentley

Sarah Grintzevitch

Public Programme Engagement Manager

Meteorological Qualifications

• OU course– Understanding the weather

• BSc., MSc. or PhD in Meteorology

• NVQ in Weather Forecasting• FRMetS• CMet

Main employers

• The Met Office

•Private Sector- Metra- Met Check- WSI- The Weather Network- Meteo Group

•ECMWF (European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting)

Continued…

• Armed Forces/MoD• National Meteorological

Centres• Government Agencies

– NERC– British Antarctic Survey– Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

• Consultancy• Energy companies

• Universities• Oceanography• IPCC• UN• WMO

Industries that need forecasts

• Transport– Airlines

– Airports

– Ports and harbours

– Highways agency (gritting?)

– Railways (ice, snow, leaf fall)

• Health

– Department of Health (extreme weather events)

– SAD

– Sufferers of lung associated disease

• Retail

– Supermarkets (shall we stock BBQs or soup?)

– Fashion (shall we stock woollen jumpers or swimwear?)

• Energy

– Renewable energy

– Offshore oil and gas • Finance

– Insurance– Trading– Investment and asset management

• Engineering & construction

– Mining

– Construction

• Environment

– Environment Agency (flooding)

• Leisure

– Big sporting events (eg Wimbledon)

Different meteorological images and processes used in forecasting...

Forecast for 9am today taken

from the BBC website

A bit of info on forecasting…

Weather Station Circle

Observations around the UK

Satellite picture for today

Radar for today

Synoptic chart for 12pm today

Comparing Satellite, Radar & the Forecast

Forecasting for a Large Field

1. Plot observations

Data Assimilation

2. Plot temperature contours

3. Plot contours of temp from previous forecast

4. Data Assimilated Result

Numerical Weather Prediction

Γw = Wet adiabatic lapse rate, K/m

g = Earth's gravitational acceleration = 9.8076 m/s2

Hv = Heat of vaporization of water, J/kg

r= The ratio of the mass of water vapor to the mass of dry air,

kg/kg

Rsd = Specific gas constant of dry air = 287 J kg-1 K-1

Rsv = Specific gas constant of water vapor = 462 J kg-1 K-1

ε=The dimensionless ratio of the specific gas constant of dry air to

the specific gas constant for water vapor = 0.6220

T = Temperature of the saturated air, K

cpd = The specific heat of dry air at constant pressure, J kg-1 K-1

Formula for Saturated Adiabatic Lapse Rate

Clausius-Clapeyron Equation

    where dP / dT is the slope of the coexistence curve, L is the latent heat, T is the temperature, ΔV is the volume change of the phase transition.

Climate Change

In a recent survey of the public…

• 52% don’t believe climate change will affect them

• Only 18% respondents think that climate change will take effect during their children’s lifetime

• But 74% said they would make changes to their lifestyle now if they knew climate change was going to affect their children

But how has our climate changed already?

• Central England temperatures have increased by 1 °C since the 1970s.

• Total summer rainfall has decreased in most parts of the UK.

• Sea-surface temperature around the UK has risen by about 0.7 °C over the past three decades.

• The UK has experienced nine of the 10 warmest years on record since 1990.

• Sea levels around the UK have risen 10 cm since 1900.

Possible Future Changes• Medium emissions scenario, the annual average temperature rise by the

end of the century ≈ 3.5oC• The summer average temperature rise in the SE is very likely to be approx

is 4 °C.• Increased urbanisation and release of waste heat would increase this still

further• In summer droughts are more likely, particularly in the SE. But possible

flash flooding.• The extreme heatwave of 2003, when average summer temperatures were

2 °C higher than normal, led to more than 2,000 additional deaths in the UK.

• Heavier winter precipitation is expected to become more frequent.• Sea-level across the UK is projected to rise between 11 and 76 cm by the

end of the century.

Projected Temperature Changes

2020-2029 2090-2099

Change in Temperature (°C), Scenario A2

(IPCC, 2007, Fig. WGI-SPM-6)

Useful websites

• www.rmets.org

• www.metoffice.gov.uk

• www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~brugge/jobs.html

• www.environmentjob.co.uk

• www.ecmwf.int/

• www.meteogroup.co.uk/

• www.bbc.co.uk/weather

• www.nerc.ac.uk

• www.antarctica.ac.uk/

Any Questions?