Joint Weather & Climate Research Programme

What is the Joint Weather and Climate Research Programme?

This is a programme to promote collaboration between the Met Office and the Natural Environment Research Council on weather and climate research.

See story on LWEC website

What are the aims of this activity?

The ambition of the programme is to:

• ensure that the UK has access to internationally competitive tools and infrastructure for maintaining its world-leading national capability in observing, understanding, modelling and predicting weather and climate, and their impacts
• enable closer collaboration between NERC and the Met Office by working to eliminate existing barriers, to align more closely their respective research activities, and to ensure effective participation in relevant new research programmes from both organisations
• propose new activities to address gaps in existing national weather and climate research and to be actively involved in promoting and developing those activities
• promote better use of research for improved weather and climate forecasts.

What tools are available?

The programme will provide

Data
Long term data on infrared radiation, measured by satellites, that can be used to measure climate change and to test climate models

Models

• improved code and reports for the United Kingdom Chemistry Aerosol model (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/collaboration/jwcrp/ukca)
• building and assessing a high resolution global model for the variabiliy of weather from seasonal to decadal and on extreme weather
• improved modelling of the monsoon
• prediction of rapid changes in ice sheets and their contribtion to sea level rise

Computing power

The MONSOON supercomputer - this is a shared supercomputing service jointly funded by Met Office and NERC, primarily to enhance collaboration between NERC funded and Met Office scientists.

Any work on the supercomputer must address the strategic aims of the programme. For more information see http://www.jwcrp.org.uk/infrastructure/monsoon.asp or contact rod.smyth@metoffice.gov.uk

Who will benefit?

The outputs from the programme will feed into climate predictions at a local, regional and global level - and policy makers will be able to use the outputs to inform their decisions.

The Met Office provides specialist weather and climate advice for the UK Climate Service - this provides forcasts from tomorrow to 100 years ahead. Information from the UK Climate Service will be available to all countries through the World Meteorological Organisation.

PROGRAMME FACTS AND FIGURES

Start and end dates: 01/04/2009 to 31/03/2014

Website: http://www.jwcrp.org.uk and http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/collaboration/jwcrp

Contact:

Programme Co-ordinator Sally Reid
coordinator@jwcrp.org.uk
01793 442565