Climate

This part of the programme is focused on exploiting EO to improve national capability for climate prediction over timescales from months to decades. Current research includes:

• Intercomparisons between HIRS radiances from the HadIR project and equivalent simulations from Hadley Centre model.
• Processing CloudSat-CALIPSO data with variational ice cloud retrieval and evaluation with the Met Office and ECMWF
• Development of new cloud simulator code (COSP) for running with HiGEM output ready for CFMIP (Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project) runs.
• Baseline ocean reanalyses at 1 and ¼ resolution complete up to 2007
• Development of a new ocean reanalysis based on ERA-Interim forcing
• Development of a defined set of Arctic diagnostics, including ice, for comparison and assessment with IPY (International Polar Year) observations and first assessments of modelling 2007 ice minimum
• Analysis of satellite based air-sea flux products
• Setting up a UK GOCE working group to exploit data post launch
• Improved estimation of the size of ocean dynamic effects in geodetic fingerprint determination of the causes of sea level change.
• Testing melt pond physics in sea ice-ocean modelling
• Installation and testing of coupled versions of Hadley Centre models (FAMOUS and HadCM3) with ice sheet model (GLIMMER), including extensions to include exchange of ocean variables
• Quantification of time and space scales of land surface response to precipitation in semi-arid Africa"