Science in the Met Office : thirteenth report of session 2010-12 / House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Science and Technology.
Date:
2012
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Science in the Met Office : thirteenth report of session 2010-12 / House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    billions of mathematical calculations; therefore powerful supercomputers are required in order to carry out these calculations as quickly as possible.” Observations 28. The importance of observational data in modelling future weather and climate is clear.” Indeed, the Government told us that it: recognises that the robustness of Met Office models is contingent on the accuracy and adequacy of supporting observational data. Observations directly input to models and to model development (through enhancing our scientific understanding) and are the only means of verifying model outputs.” However, the UK generates and owns less than four per cent of the observational data on which it relies to deliver the Public Weather Service; this value drops to less than one per cent if satellite data are included.” As a result “international collaboration is essential to provide the observations on which the Met Office depends”.® This is a subject we will return to in paragraph 68. 29. In addition to the vast quantities of data available from international sources, there is also a network of volunteer observers in the UK. Stephen Burt, a freelance science writer and Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, told us that the voluntary observing network has declined by approximately 50 per cent: in 1975, there were 6,220 rainfall observing sites in the UK; by 2010, the figure had dropped to 3,214.*° He attributed this decline, in part, to “very little ongoing support from the Met Office”.*” We understand, however, that the Met Office is now beginning to address this concern. During our visit to Exeter, Met Office officials demonstrated the new Met Office Weather Observations Website (WOW), which “is helping to co-ordinate the growth of the weather observing community in the UK, by asking anyone to submit the observations they are taking”.** The Met Office WOW includes guidance on setting up a weather observation site and submitting observations online. Modelling 30. The Met Office uses essentially the same “Unified Model” (UM) for modelling “across all timescales from daily weather forecasting to centennial climate change predictions, and for all space scales from the local to the global”.*? Many of the organisations we heard from Met Office website, “First steps”, www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/science/first-steps Ev wi 5, para 13 [Research Councils UK]; Ev w8, para 4 [Australian Bureau of Meteorology]; Ev 62, paras 3.2.12-3.2.13 [National Oceanography Centre] 3 «Ev 71, para 4.9 % Ev 45, para 6.10 [Met Office] * Ev 45, para 6.8 [Met Office] Ev w20, para 3.4 As above Met Office Weather Observations Website, “General Support”, wow.metoffice.gov.uk %°% ‘Ev 42, para 5.1 [Met Office]