Issue 22 Met Office Magazine
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IMPARTIAL EVIDENCE CREATIVE MINDS INSPIRED COLLABORATIONS World-leading science Embracing new Generating new ideas technology Original text for editing puposes Barometer delete on final doc Issue 22 www.metoffice.gov.uk Met Office magazine TECHNOLOGY IDEAS VISION NEW THINKING RESEARCH CREATIVITY SKILLS GLOBAL LINKS CREATE BUILD KNOWLEDGE CHANGING BEHAVIOUR STIMULATE MORE BENEFITS TO BUSINESSES RESEARCH INNOVATION COLLABORATION VISION HARNESSING SKILLS POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENT LEARNING IDEAS CREATIVITY GROWTH NEW THINKING CONSULTING IDEAS WEATHER VISION SKILLS TOOLS WORLD ENVIRONMENT INVENTION TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY RESEARCH 1 Welcome understanding of extreme weather events. The collaboration theme that’s supported by our diverse BIS links Smart also flows strongly through the new Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme (see page 9) — an initiative designed to build on the UK’s climate capability by bringing together the best minds from science, Government and industry. Kirstine Dale, our Head of International Services and Climate Services for Government, explains how the programme will drive joined up thinking thinking to underpin the UK’s climate capability over the next three years to 2015. Sharp, creative minds have again been In post from September 1st, new Met Office Chairman hard at work in three other fascinating Greg Clarke brings fresh perspectives at a time when areas covered in this Barometer: Wind energy is explored through a guest innovation and ideas have never been more important article (see page 15) by Ian Burrow, Head for the organisation’s future success. of Agriculture and Renewable Energy at NatWest. Ian discusses how the Met Office is working with the bank to help By working at the forefront of what is repeatable experiments and then investors make the most of the wind Introducing possible, we are enabling more people exploited to solve problems. So it’s energy opportunity. to access our advice and services, fitting that we’re now owned by the Greg Clarke helping the UK to become more Department for Business, Innovation Growers’ Nation is an exciting new resilient, competitive and sustainable. & Skills (BIS), an arrangement that app developed by a Met Office team encourages bold new thinking across (see page 17) which cleverly combines • Former Chief Executive of My interest in science goes way back industries. location, soil, climate and growing data FTSE 20 company Cable and — well beyond the moment when I to help anyone aiming to grow their Wireless Communications PLC chose management over physics for my Our feature on innovation and own produce. and ASX 50-listed Lend Lease degree. But it’s a passion that’s stayed invention in this edition of Barometer Corporation of Australia with me throughout my career running (see page 7) explores this theme with Finally, a feature on flood forecasting multinational public companies — Caroline Griffiths, Head of Innovation reviews the ongoing success of the Flood • Chairman of the Football crystallising during the seven years at EDF Energy, one of the Met Office’s Forecasting Centre following integration League since 2010 I was managing Lend Lease Corporation clients. Caroline shares her thoughts of Met Office and Environment Agency • Non-executive director for in Australia from 2002 to 2009. on how EDF is learning from us — and resources. organisations including BUPA, we’re learning from them. It was then that I became deeply Like me, I hope you’ll enjoy discovering T-Mobile and MTN South Africa involved with understanding the impact An accompanying feature on the more about the vital work of the Met • Honours degree in Business of weather on the built environment in ThinkUP initiative (see page 11), Office through these and other stories Studies; MBA from Cass general and the company’s construction investigates how a Met Office team is in this 22nd edition of Barometer. I look Business School, London division in particular. Joining the Met helping to support an innovation forward to my learning journey in the Office as Chairman now gives me a culture — working with EDF Energy, the months to come — and the chance to • Greg is married with four unique opportunity to support a world- Environment Agency, University of support a unique organisation in the daughters, loves golf and class organisation tackle some of the Exeter Business School, BIS and others. years ahead. football — and is a lifelong fan, biggest issues our planet will face over as well as former Chairman, Our piece on the ‘science of attribution’ the next 10, 20, 30 years. Barometer is also available online at of Leicester City (see page 19) then brings the www.metoffice.gov.uk/barometer New ideas are pivotal to good science innovation concept to life through an — theories that can be verified through example of science that’s adding to our www.metoffice.gov.uk Welcome 2 In this issue News and updates Features People 03 In brief 04 Key weather events 15 Supporting renewable 13 Our people Water intelligence From one extreme to another energy Will Lang, Chief Hydrometeorologist Working with NatWest of the Flood Forecasting Centre Virtual learning 07 Putting our heads together Staying one step ahead Working with EDF Energy 17 Grow your own 20 Science profile A new science-based app Dr Peter Stott, Scientific Strategic 21 The Climate Science Research Head for Climate Monitoring and Partnership 09 Delivering world-leading science Attribution The Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme 22 Celebrity weather Monty Halls 11 ThinkUP Innovation at the Met Office Science 19 Science focus Extreme weather: an attribution perspective Barometer is a controlled circulation magazine For any queries about Met Office products or distributed free of charge to decision-makers in services, contact our Customer Centre (24 hrs): government, science and commerce, for whom [email protected] weather and climate information has an impact. Tel: 0870 900 0100 Product information is correct at the time of Fax: 0870 900 5050 publication but may be subject to change. From outside the UK: Tel: +44 (0)1392 885680 The Barometer back catalogue is available online Fax: +44 (0)1392 885681 at www.metoffice.gov.uk where readers can also www.metoffice.gov.uk complete a subscription form. © Crown copyright 2012 12/0393 For queries about Barometer contact Met Office and the Met Office logo Jon Stanford, Met Office, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, are registered trademarks Devon, EX1 3PB, UK 3 In brief Water intelligence Virtual learning Staying one step ahead We are working closely with the water Met Office College This winter we are industry to launch a suite of innovative Online, MOCO, a virtual working with the weather intelligence models. learning environment Department of Health accessed via the web, and the Health Protection For the water industry, operational and financial has been developed for Agency to provide a Cold performance is closely linked to weather conditions. customers of the Met Weather Alert service. As climate change is predicted to increase the Office College. Each year, around 27,000 likelihood of weather extremes, together with the The new interactive more people die during additional pressure on water resources, our forecasts website contains different winter in England when are becoming ever more important. resources and activities compared to non-winter To better anticipate the effect of weather across including e-learning months. the water distribution network, we are combining modules, videos, PDFs, questionnaires, chat rooms The introduction of the Cold Weather Alert service our forecasting expertise with industry specific and quizzes. last winter as part of the Cold Weather Plan has knowledge of companies like Thames Water. The Some MOCO content is available to all, but after been warmly welcomed by public health and result is new intelligence models that are designed registration, customers can select and pay online emergency responders across the country. to improve understanding of the impacts of the for single course licences. The site is initially being weather on pipe leakage and burst, as well as The purpose of the Cold Weather Plan is to avoid made available to the offshore oil and gas market demand and seasonal night use. the dangers of severe winter weather. It increases and the first course on the site is for Offshore resilience by raising public awareness and Within the water industry there is a move from Met Observers. encouraging those in contact with people most at requiring post-event analysis, to wanting more More e-learning courses will be developed to risk from cold weather to take action. proactive impact-based forecast services. As complement our existing portfolio of courses. Stephen Herndlhofer, Manager of Risk & Analytics The Cold Weather Alert service operates in England MOCO will also start to be integrated into all at Yorkshire Water describes, “The risk from from 1 November to 31 March, in association with classroom courses with resources being made extreme weather to the operational and financial the Department of Health. Met Office alerts are sent available online for delegates to access before, performance of our business, as evidenced by to the Health Protection Agency and NHS Trusts. during and after attending courses. recent events, does appear to be increasing.” They are also featured on our website and via our There are plans to integrate web conferencing Twitter feed. into the site so that live training can be delivered Find out more about the Cold Weather Alert service at remotely. This will be particularly useful for www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/coldweatheralert international capacity building projects, where delegate travel is prohibitively expensive. Access MOCO at https://elearning.metoffice.gov.uk/ www.metoffice.gov.uk Key weather events 4 250 225 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 Rainfall anomalies for 2012 – shown as a percentage of 1981–2010 average (%) UK England Wales Scotland N Ireland 25 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Graph showing how rainfall this summer was often at much higher levels compared to the last three decades.