Industry News
UK oceans to warm by more than 3°C by 2100, warns report
Sea surface temperatures around the UK have shown a significant warming trend of around 0.3°C per decade over the last 40 years, according to a new report led by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC).
The UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) report highlights the regional differences in ocean temperature changes that are being detected. While warming levels were particularly noticeable in the southern North Sea, insignificant sea surface temperature trends were detected to the west of the UK. Research is ongoing to understand this phenomenon but there are indications that lower ocean temperatures in that region may have led to an increase in winter storms across Northwest Europe.
WMO Hurricane Committee retires Fiona and Ian
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Hurricane Committee has retired Fiona and Ian from the rotating lists of Atlantic tropical cyclone names following the death and destruction caused in Central America, the Caribbean, the USA and Canada in 2022.
Farrah will be used to replace Fiona in the lists of names, and Idris will replace Ian. WMO uses lists of names to help communicate storm warnings and to alert people about potentially life-threatening risks. In this region, the names are repeated every six years, unless a storm is so deadly that its name is retired. In total, 96 names have now been retired from the Atlantic basin list since 1953, when storms began to be named under the current system.
FAAM Air Lab invests in electric ground support to reduce carbon emissions
The UK’s FAAM Airborne Laboratory has invested in an electric-powered ground power unit and aircraft tug to help reduce carbon emissions from its research operations.
Operated by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), the FAAM Airborne Laboratory’s research aircraft, a specially adapted BAE-146 aircraft, is owned by UK Research and Innovation and the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) – which has committed to achieving net zero by 2040.
Alan Woolley, head of the FAAM Airborne Laboratory, said, “By changing the way we power and move the aircraft on the ground, alongside adopting other sustainable practices, we will be able to take action on reducing our emissions as a research facility.
Data, collaboration and innovation key to future of US forecasting, hears Congress
Testifying at a US congressional hearing, Antonio Busalacchi (above), president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), has stressed that the future success of US weather forecasting efforts relies on increasingly productive collaborations between the triad of academic and research communities, the public sector and the private sector.
Busalacchi said, “It is important to the future success of the weather enterprise that each leg of the triad continues to grow, and that any reduction in size of any leg will negatively impact its diverse beneficiaries.”
The Environment Subcommittee hearing focused on data and innovation for predictions as the United States Congress considers reauthorization of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (The Weather Act), which aims to advance weather research, improve forecasting and expand commercial opportunities for the provision of weather data.
Coastal salt marshes could disappear with rapid sea level rise, warns study
US researchers have revealed how tidal salt marshes along America’s East Coast have built elevation more quickly to keep pace with accelerating sea level rise over the last century, but warn that this process has its limits.
According to the researchers, the factors affecting how quickly a salt marsh accumulates soil include how much sediment is deposited in the wetland during tidal floods, and how much organic matter from the marsh’s plants escapes decomposition.
Sediment supply to marshes can be limited by human activities such as the building of dams, or can be increased by causing erosion upstream, often through clearing land for agriculture.
Research identifies Greenland Ice Sheet tipping points
A new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany has used simulations to identify two tipping points for the Greenland Ice Sheet.
According to the study, releasing 1,000 gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere will cause the southern portion of the ice sheet to melt, and around 2,500 gigatons of carbon would result in the permanent loss of nearly the entire ice sheet.
The Greenland Ice Sheet covers 1,700,000km2 in the Arctic and would result in a global sea level rise of 7m if it melted completely.
Around 500 gigatons of carbon have been emitted into the atmosphere to date, which is halfway to the first tipping point.
UAE and Pakistan meteorological agencies form cooperation program
The UAE’s National Center of Meteorology (NCM) and the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) are to work together on a technical cooperation program (TCP) to advance scientific and technical cooperation in the fields of seismology and meteorology.
Through the TCP, the NCM and PMD will cooperate in several fields, including marine meteorological services, seismology, and hydrology and flood forecasting. The TCP will also advance scientific research to better monitor and understand seismic activities that have the potential to generate tsunamis in the Arabian Sea and the Sea of Oman. The program will also exchange seismic information around the clock to increase the capabilities of seismic networks and monitoring.
UK launches emergency early warning system for floods and wildfires
A new system has been launched that will provide the UK government and emergency services with the ability to send alerts directly to cell phones when there is a risk to life.
Working with mobile broadcasting technology, the emergency alerts system will help deliver urgent messages to nearly 90% of cell phones in a defined area, providing clear instructions for how best to respond.
The service has already been used in several countries, including the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, where it has been widely credited with saving lives, for example, during severe weather events.