INSIDE THIS ISSUE Focus on our partnerships - Met Office & National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) ICAS In the Field New Academic Research Fellows Announcing our Prestigious Visitor programme Alan Blyth becomes affiliate of US National Center for Atmospheric Research ICAS award winners Staff: Peggy Archtert – Research Fellow Sophie Cowie – Research Fellow Ryan Neely – Lecturer in Observational Atmospheric Science associated with the NCAS radar ICAS Newsletter Issue 2 October 2014 Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science SCHOOL OF EARTH AND ENVIRONMENT www.see.leeds.ac.uk/research/icas/ Twitter@ICASLeeds Students: Mohammed Abed Matt Clark Oliver Halliday Adriano Lemos Marieanne Leong Lauren Marshall Michael O’Sullivan Hannah Pearce Yvonne Smith Giorgio Taverna Jesus Vergara Temprado Geoffrey Bessardon WELCOME TO NEW STAFF AND STUDENTS
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Focus on our partnerships - Met Office
& National Centre for Atmospheric
Science (NCAS)
ICAS In the Field
New Academic Research Fellows
Announcing our Prestigious Visitor
programme
Alan Blyth becomes affiliate of US
National Center for Atmospheric
Research
ICAS award winners
Staff:
Peggy Archtert – Research
Fellow
Sophie Cowie – Research Fellow
Ryan Neely – Lecturer in
Observational Atmospheric
Science associated with the
NCAS radar
ICAS Newsletter Issue 2 October 2014
Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science SCHOOL OF EARTH AND ENVIRONMENT
We are very pleased to welcome a new member of NCAS and ICAS.
Dr Ryan Neely joins us in the new position of Lecturer in Observational Atmospheric Science associated with the NCAS radar.
He was most recently a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Advanced Study Program at NCAR, Boulder.
Ryan will contribute to the existing radar group led by Professor Chris Collier and will lead in new areas that are strategically important to NCAS and ICAS.
Ryan's research is geared towards understanding clouds and aerosol processes in the past, present and future climates. He has made significant contributions to the science of lidar instrumentation, Arctic cloud observations and global modelling.
He has recently been involved with a long-term observational programme to investigate clouds and tropospheric properties at Summit, Greenland that utilizes an array of active and passive remote sensing instruments.
The Met Office is
one of our most
important partners
in terms of the
impact of our
research, in
improving the UK’s
weather and climate prediction tools.
ICAS scientists have worked in
collaboration with the Met Office for
many years. Our formal Academic
Partnership was approved in 2010
and now coordinates a range of
research, teaching and staff
development activities.
The Met Office is one of the largest
and most influential national
meteorological services in the world,
with responsibility for providing
weather and climate guidance to the
UK, and globally. The economic
value to the UK economy of these
forecasts is valued in terms of billions
of pounds annually. Much of the
research conducted in ICAS
contributes directly to the
improvement of the models which are
at the heart of the Met Office’s
forecasting capability. Fundamental
“blue skies” research conducted in
ICAS, often bringing together field
measurements and theoretical
models, is used to challenge and
develop the forecast systems. Over
the years we have made significant
contributions to representations of
atmospheric dynamics, physics and
composition in the Met Office models.
The development of a dedicated
forecasting system for high winds at
airports emerged from our joint
programme of work. Recently, the
Leeds-developed GLOMAP model for
aerosol processes has been
integrated into the heart of the Met
Office modelling system, and will
therefore be a key part of the UK’s
prediction systems for climate and air
quality in the coming years.
At Leeds several joint positions have
been established, to develop and
advance various aspects of our joint
programme.
Doug Parker’s post is part-funded by
the Met Office, to coordinate our joint
activities;
Paul Field holds a jointly-funded
chair;
Simon Vosper is a Visiting
Professor;
Cathryn Birch is a Met Office
research scientist based in Leeds;
Ruth Lawford-Rolfe (Manager of
our Climate and Geohazard Services
hub) coordinates the application of
our research within the Met Office;
Steef Böing will join us in February
2015 to take a jointly-funded
fellowship.
Through these joint positions, ICAS
staff regularly advise on, and
contribute to the Met Office’s
strategic science programmes. In
addition to these established posts,
we have supported several staff
exchanges. A number of Met Office
scientists have spent time working in
Leeds with our research groups, as
part of their Continuing Professional
Development, leading to new
publications and research tools. The
Met Office Academic Partnership
(MOAP) also includes the
Universities of Reading, Exeter and
Oxford, with whom we have
developed some wider
collaborations, for instance a national
programme of research into
atmospheric convection.
The Academic Partnership
coordinates the joint provision of
training at postgraduate and
undergraduate levels. In particular,
we now have about 18 PhD CASE
studentships. The Met Office also
provides prizes for student
achievement, and Met Office staff
contribute to our taught programmes.
Within Leeds, the community of
research fellows and PhD students
who are formally collaborating with
the Met Office comprise a “Met Office
Group at the University of
Leeds” (MOGUL) which holds regular
science meetings and discussions.
Look out for future articles
highlighting joint ICAS-Met Office
projects
FOCUS ON OUR PARTNERSHIPS: NATIONAL CENTRE FOR ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE (NCAS)
The National Centre for Atmospheric
Science (NCAS) is the UK’s centre
for atmospheric science and carries
out research programmes in the
areas of;
• The science of climate change,
including modelling and predictions
• Atmospheric composition,
including air quality
• Weather, including hazardous
weather
• Technologies for observing
and modelling the atmosphere
NCAS is one of the Natural
Environment Research Council's
(NERC) research centres, providing
national capability in atmospheric
science research. The Centre
performs directed and multi-
disciplinary research, using state-of-
the-art technologies for observing
and modelling the atmosphere.
Additionally, NCAS provides scientific
facilities for scientists and
researchers across the UK to enable
excellent atmospheric science on a
national scale. These include a world
-leading research aircraft, ground-
based instrumentation, access to
computer models and facilities for
storing and accessing data.
NCAS is not based in one location, it
is a distributed centre made up three
science directorates (climate;
weather; atmospheric composition)
and four services and facilities
distributed across many UK
universities and related institutions.
The main administrative centre of
NCAS is at the University of Leeds.
The Operational Team of NCAS
are situated on the 11th floor of the
North building of SEE and include
Stephen Mobbs (Director) ,
Adrian Kybett (Head of Impact),
Chris Collier (Head of Strategic
Partnerships), James Groves (IT
manager), Nikki Barraclough
(Finance Manager), Ali Gane
(Administration Manager), Felicity
Perry (Communications Manager),
Dan Walker (IT and Database Co-
ordinator), Louise Whitehouse
(Training and Education Manager),
Liz Mylod (Administration
Assistant) and Tamsin Rounding
(Finance Assistant).
NCAS scientists within ICAS are
Alan Blyth (NCAS Director for
Weather Science),
Barbara Brooks (Head of the
Atmospheric Measurement
Facility), Alan Gadian (NCAS
Senior Scientist), WuHu Feng
(NCAS-Climate), Ralph Burton
(NCAS-Weather), Tor Smith
(NCAS-AMF), Kate Faloon (NCAS
-AMF), Lindsay Bennett (NCAS-
AMF), Graham Mann (NCAS-
Climate), Mark Carpenter (NCAS-
FAAM) and Ryan Neely (NCAS-
Weather).
NCAS also have a number of
scientists working in the School of
Chemistry at the University of
Leeds.
Look out for future articles
highlighting joint ICAS-NCAS
projects
A research team from ICAS participated in a three-month long research
cruise to study Arctic clouds over the Arctic Ocean. Prof Ian Brooks and post
-doctoral researcher Dominic Salisbury sailed on the Swedish icebreaker
Oden in early July for the first leg of the cruise from Tromsø, in northern
Norway, to Barrow, Alaska. At the half-way point in late August Ian and Dom
will swap places with Drs Barbara Brooks and John Prytherch, who will
undertake the return leg, ending up back in Tromsø in mid-October.
The climate of the Arctic is changing rapidly, warming at about twice the
global average rate. The dramatic reduction in the extent of summer sea ice
over the last decade is the most visible manifestation of this warming.
Climate model predictions are consistent with observed trends, but show
much greater variability in the Arctic than elsewhere in the world. A large
part of this uncertainty results from poor representation of Arctic clouds
within the models. Low level clouds are the single most important factor
controlling the surface energy budget over the Arctic Ocean, and hence the
amount of heat entering research.
The ACSE project aims to improve our understanding of the processes
controlling Arctic stratus clouds. ACSE is a collaboration between ICAS and
groups at the Meteorological Institute, University of Stockholm and
the University of Colorado/NOAA-CIRES, and follows a previous highly
productive collaboration by the same team on the ASCOS project – also
conducted on board the Oden in 2008. They have jointly installed a wide
array of measurement systems on the Oden.
ICAS IN THE FIELD: CAPE VERDE ATMOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY
ALAN BLYTH: AFFILIATE OF US NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
Alan Blyth, Professor of
Atmospheric Science in ICAS and
Director of NCAS-Weather, has
been appointed affiliate scientist
at the US National Center for
Atmospheric Research, one of the
world’s leading scientific
institutions.
He will form part of their internationally recognised team, and contribute to NCAR research programmes dedicated to advancing knowledge and building capacity in the atmospheric and related sciences.
The appointment recognises his outstanding contributions to research on convective clouds, and will allow him to lead a programme of research on the dynamics, microphysics and electrification of deep continental convection.
Affiliate scientists are senior-level university and research community scientists who are appointed to carry out long-term, highly interactive, collaborative work with NCAR scientists. They are appointed for three year terms, visiting NCAR and receiving support for their research. Alan joins the 36 existing affiliate scientists from 17 different states and 11 countries at NCAR, including SEE’s Professor Paul Field (joint Met Office and ICAS).
Speaking about his appointment,
Alan said "This is an exciting
opportunity to collaborate with
some of the leaders in the field, to
use the excellent aircraft and radar
facilities at NCAR, and to
strengthen collaborations between
scientists in NCAS, ICAS, NCAR
and the Met Office."
The Oceanic Reactive Carbon:
Chemistry-Climate Interactions
(ORC3) project is led by ICAS’s
Steve Arnold, in collaboration with
Dominick Spracklen & Prof. Dwayne
Heard of the School of Chemistry at
Leeds and with Prof. Lucy Carpenter
and Prof. Ally Lewis at the University
of York.
The NERC project involves new
dedicated field observations at the
NCAS Cape Verde observatory, new
observations from the 2012 and
2013 Atlantic Meridional Transect
cruises, and process modelling and
global atmospheric chemistry
modelling studies.
The Leeds team have taken
measurements of glyoxal during two
intensive fieldwork campaigns (June-
July and August-September 2014).
These measurements will
complement long-term
measurements made at the
observatory all year round by
researchers from the University of
York, UK, the Max-Planck-Institut für
Biogeochemie, Jena, Germany, the
Leibniz-Institut für
Troposphärenforschung, Leipzig,
Germany, and the Instituto Nacional
de Meteorologia e Geofísica, São
Vicente.
ORC3 aims to understand the origin
of volatile organic carbon compounds
over the ocean, and the impact on
climate
ICAS IN THE FIELD: THE ARCTIC CLOUD SUMMER EXPERIMENT (ACSE)
ICAS IN THE FIELD: ONWARDS AND UPWARDS! ICAS SCIENTIST IN EXCITING NEW BBC SHOW
ICAS’s Jim McQuaid is among the
scientists who took to the skies in
the world’s largest airship for one
of the most ambitious
atmospheric experiments on
television.
In a new two-part show for BBC Two,
‘Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets of the
Skies’, Dr McQuaid, Associate
Professor of Atmospheric
Composition in ICAS, flew from coast
to coast across the USA aboard the
Skyship 600.
Dr McQuaid said: “The Cloud Lab
project was a once in a lifetime
experience and when I was asked to
put together the suite of instruments
to explain how the atmosphere
works, I jumped at the chance.”
During the shows, Dr McQuaid and
the rest of the team looked at the
relationship between life and
weather, explored the science that
controls the creation and destruction
of clouds, and examined a growing
cloud's internal structure. They also
shed light on how hurricanes develop
and why pollution has suppressed
hurricane activity in the Gulf of
Mexico.
The airship is ideal for exploring the
atmosphere because it can remain
stationary while the team watch
weather phenomena develop and
then move to get the best view.
It is also stable enough for the team
to conduct scientific experiments,
such as sampling air from different
regions (arid deserts, moist oceans
and polluted cities) while measuring
the properties of the clouds in an
attempt to understand which type
produces the most clouds.
“Because the airship flies so slowly
compared to the research aircraft
that we usually use for our research,
we could collect so many more
'measurements per miles’ than
usual,” said Dr McQuaid.
“What is great is that we will get
some new science from our
observations for this TV programme.
I am already working with US
research teams who are really keen
to get their hands on our unique
dataset.”
If you are inspired by the show and
want to learn more, you can read
about our undergraduate degrees
in Meteorology and Climate Science,
our Master’s degrees in Climate and
Atmospheric Science, and the world-
leading research carried out by
our Institute for Climate and
Atmospheric Science, including PhD
opportunities. New ICAS "Challenge
Seminars"
ICAS AWARD WINNERS
The European Meteorological Society (EMS) Young Scientist Award 2014 is awarded to
Cathryn Birch.
The award is given to individuals in recognition of excellent performance in terms of scientific publications or presentations during the early stage of their scientific career. John Marsham was a winner in 2010
Ken Carslaw is to be awarded the prestigious American Geophysical Union Atmospheric
Sciences Ascent Award.
Established in 2012, the Ascent Award is given annually to four exceptional, mid-career scientists in the atmospheric and climate sciences fields, who demonstrate excellence in research and leadership.
Ken was also awarded Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher 2014.