Weather and Climate Science: recent successes and future challenges

Abstract

Prof Julia Slingo presented a selection of recent scientific advances from the Met Office science programme including new developments in local scale weather forecasting, seasonal prediction and climate science and how these developments are used to provide improved services. Her presentation will also share some of the new research on the horizon and how increased supercomputer power will help.

About the Speaker

Prof Julia Slingo became Met Office Chief Scientist in February 2009 where she leads a team of over 500 scientists working on a very broad portfolio of research that underpins weather forecasting, climate prediction and climate change projections. Before joining the Met Office, she was the Director of Climate Research in the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) National Centre for Atmospheric Science, at the University of Reading. In 2006 she founded the Walker Institute for Climate System Research at Reading, aimed at addressing the cross disciplinary challenges of climate change and its impacts. Prof Slingo has had a long-term career in atmospheric physics and climate science, working at the Met Office, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) and National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the USA. She has developed and used complex weather and climate models throughout her research career to understand the climate system and to predict its evolution. Her special interests are in tropical weather and climate variability, understanding their influence on the global climate system and their role in monthly to decadal climate prediction.