VIRTUAL MEETING | Post-Graduate Showcase
LOCATION
UPDATE: Registration has now closed.
FIRST SPEAKER: Dr Craig Poku, University of Leeds
The Winner Takes It All: Why Aerosols Are Key To Understanding Nocturnal Radiation Fog
ABSTRACT: Fog is a low-lying cloud that reduces near-surface visibility, leading to severe impacts on human activity, health and safety. Its formation and development is dependent on several interacting atmospheric processes such as changes in humidity, wind speed, fog microphysics and pollutants (aerosols). Aerosols are small airborne particles that account for initial surface visibility decrease, as well as controlling the fog layer’s thickness and life span. Increasing our understanding of aerosol impacts on fog will lead to improved fog forecasts and hence decrease the risks associated with human health and activity.
This talk will present an overview of fog modelling techniques, with a focus on aerosol physics. I’ll begin by discussing how different aerosol properties can enhance fog droplet formation. Next, I’ll present current modelling techniques used to model fog when accounting for aerosols and how it can be improved, using observations from a UK case study. Finally, I’ll discuss my recent research investigating fog development in Delhi, and how it can aid in providing solutions to cleaner air policies with the rise in urbanisation.
SECOND SPEAKER: Dan Shipley, University of Reading
Is two better than one? Modelling convection with multiple fluids
ABSTRACT: Atmospheric convection is a key component of global weather and climate, transporting energy and moisture, generating precipitation, and coupling strongly to larger-scale systems such as tropical cyclones, monsoons, and ENSO. But representation of convection is one of the weakest aspects of both weather and climate models: for instance, high-intensity precipitation is still often poorly predicted, and we don't know for sure whether it will rain more or less in the tropics in a warmer climate.
In this talk I'll explain why convection is so hard to get right: why it needs to be modelled at all, why our current models fail, and what all this has to do with one of the thorniest problems of classical physics - fluid turbulence. I'll then present one possibility for improving convection modelling, based on splitting the atmosphere into multiple "fluids" to better account for variability between clouds and their environment. Finally I'll show some promising results from simple experiments with a two-fluid model.
BIOGRAPHY: Dan Shipley is a PhD student at the University of Reading. He researches new models for atmospheric convection, though he's interested in turbulence wherever it appears in the atmosphere and ocean. When not working on his PhD or pretending to be a physicist, Dan likes to bake, cycle, and play music.
The meeting will open from 17:50 and the event will start promptly at 18:00. The first speaker will talk for 25 minutes followed by 5 minutes of questions. The second speaker will begin at 18:45, presenting for 25 minutes with 5 minutes of questions.
VIRTUAL MEETING | Post-Graduate Showcase Recording
UPDATE: Registration has now closed.
FIRST SPEAKER: Dr Craig Poku, University of Leeds
The Winner Takes It All: Why Aerosols Are Key To Understanding Nocturnal Radiation Fog
ABSTRACT: Fog is a low-lying cloud that reduces near-surface visibility, leading to severe impacts on human activity, health and safety. Its formation and development is dependent on several interacting atmospheric processes such as changes in humidity, wind speed, fog microphysics and pollutants (aerosols). Aerosols are small airborne particles that account for initial surface visibility decrease, as well as controlling the fog layer’s thickness and life span. Increasing our understanding of aerosol impacts on fog will lead to improved fog forecasts and hence decrease the risks associated with human health and activity.
This talk will present an overview of fog modelling techniques, with a focus on aerosol physics. I’ll begin by discussing how different aerosol properties can enhance fog droplet formation. Next, I’ll present current modelling techniques used to model fog when accounting for aerosols and how it can be improved, using observations from a UK case study. Finally, I’ll discuss my recent research investigating fog development in Delhi, and how it can aid in providing solutions to cleaner air policies with the rise in urbanisation.
SECOND SPEAKER: Dan Shipley, University of Reading
Is two better than one? Modelling convection with multiple fluids
ABSTRACT: Atmospheric convection is a key component of global weather and climate, transporting energy and moisture, generating precipitation, and coupling strongly to larger-scale systems such as tropical cyclones, monsoons, and ENSO. But representation of convection is one of the weakest aspects of both weather and climate models: for instance, high-intensity precipitation is still often poorly predicted, and we don't know for sure whether it will rain more or less in the tropics in a warmer climate.
In this talk I'll explain why convection is so hard to get right: why it needs to be modelled at all, why our current models fail, and what all this has to do with one of the thorniest problems of classical physics - fluid turbulence. I'll then present one possibility for improving convection modelling, based on splitting the atmosphere into multiple "fluids" to better account for variability between clouds and their environment. Finally I'll show some promising results from simple experiments with a two-fluid model.
BIOGRAPHY: Dan Shipley is a PhD student at the University of Reading. He researches new models for atmospheric convection, though he's interested in turbulence wherever it appears in the atmosphere and ocean. When not working on his PhD or pretending to be a physicist, Dan likes to bake, cycle, and play music.
The meeting will open from 17:50 and the event will start promptly at 18:00. The first speaker will talk for 25 minutes followed by 5 minutes of questions. The second speaker will begin at 18:45, presenting for 25 minutes with 5 minutes of questions.