Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/J005088/1
Comparing atmosphere-land surface feedbacks from models within the tropics (CALM)
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor RP Allan, University of Reading, Meteorology
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor DR Kniveton, University of Sussex, Sch of Global Studies
- Grant held at:
- University of Reading, Meteorology
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Overall Classification:
- Atmospheric
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Land - Atmosphere Interactions
- Ocean - Atmosphere Interact.
- Water In The Atmosphere
- Climate & Climate Change
- Abstract:
- Man-made transformations to the environment, and in particular the land surface, are having a large impact on the distribution (in both time and space) of rainfall, upon which all life is reliant. From global changes in the composition of the atmosphere, through the emission of greenhouse gases and aerosols, to more localised land use and land cover (LULC) changes due to an expanding population with an increasing ecological footprint, human activity has a considerable impact on the processes controlling rainfall. This is of particular importance for environmentally vulnerable regions such as many of those in the tropics. Here, widespread poverty, an extensive disease burden and pockets of political instability has resulted in a low resilience and limited adaptative capacity to climate related shocks and stresses. The CALM project has the overarching aims of: (i) furthering our understanding of how the interactions between tropical rainfall and the land surface are represented in the latest climate model simulations from the 5th Climate Modelling Intercomparison Project (CMIP5); and (ii) how these interactions relate to abrupt climate changes such as those which occurred over the Sahara thousands of years ago or, more recently, the prolonged Sahelian drought. As recent climate disasters (such as flooding in Pakistan, heat waves in India and droughts in China) demonstrate, society is particularly vulnerable to extremes related to tropical rainfall. The overall objective of this project is to better understand both present day and future tropical rainfall variability and associated controlling processes. In particular, recent work has suggested that the atmosphere-land surface feedback is going to be increasing important for any possible abrupt climate changes, thus this project will focus on model simulations of this process over a location where such changes have already taken place. The research addresses the interconnected themes of water cycle drivers, the water cycle-human interface, society and the changing water cycle, and interactions between water at the land surface and in the sub-surface. Land use (and related types of land cover) is rapidly changing, as an increasing population migrates to urban areas, large tracts of land are deforested, agriculture is intensified and increasing use is made of groundwater resources through irrigation. These changes influence the climate through the release of greenhouse gases and aerosols and by changing the flows of mass and energy from the surface to the atmosphere. Currently the climate influence of variations in concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols (induced by LULC change) is simulated for the past and projected into the future using bio-geochemical modelling, measurements of changes in atmospheric composition, or by building greenhouse gas emission scenarios driven by different future socio-economic changes. A recent project, CMIP5, has run a number of state-of-the-art climate models using various present-day and future emission scenarios of greenhouse gases, and therefore provides an unprecedented amount of simulated model data. This project aims to compare the data from all of these models, as well as observational, satellite-derived and blended observational-satellite data, to see how the interactions between rainfall and the land surface differs (or agrees) between the models and reality. By following a process-based methodology, which is already well established and widely used in other funded projects, the project will enable a better understanding of how present-day and future rainfall is associated with the surrounding environment.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/J005088/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Directed (RP) - NR1
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- CMIP5
This grant award has a total value of £83,777
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DI - Staff | DA - Estate Costs | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £2,436 | £32,396 | £8,494 | £26,863 | £10,756 | £1,900 | £933 |
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