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Climate newsletter |
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Issue 73 | 14 August 2024 |
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Spotlight on 'State of the UK Climate 2023' |
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The annual State of the UK Climate report, led by Met Office scientists, was published at the end of July. This comprehensive report analysing the changing climate in the UK over time also has an in-depth assessment of severe and notable weather events through 2023.
New analysis included in the report found that extremes of temperature in the UK are most affected by human induced climate change. This means the UK is seeing, on average, more frequent periods of hot weather, bringing challenges for infrastructure, health and wellbeing. The observations also suggest an increase in rainfall extremes.
The report was picked up widely by UK media and across social media too. You can read more about the main findings of the report in our news release and hear from Mike Kendon Met Office Climate Scientist and lead author of the report in our video below.
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State of Wildfires report
On 14 August, the annual State of Wildfires report was published. According to the report, between March 2023 to February 2024 around 8.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide were released because of global wildfires. This is 16% above the average. Record breaking fires in Canada, western Amazonia, Chile, Greece and Hawaii added to the total. The Met Office’s Chantelle Burton is a global wildfire expert and author of the report. She said: “The intensity and frequency of wildfires are increasing globally because of climate change. This is causing devastating impacts of society, the environment and biodiversity.”
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Urban heat forecasts could be enhanced with machine learning
A new study led by the Met Office highlights potential improvements to hyper-local forecasts for heatwaves in urban areas by harnessing citizen observations, land cover data and machine learning. Supported by the University of Reading and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the proof-of-concept study looked at eight heat events London experienced from 2019-2021 and fused together operational Met Office weather forecasts with quality-controlled citizen observations and land-use data to train a machine learning model, before then testing the ‘trained’ system on heatwaves within the period.
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Harnessing science and technology
On 7 August, the Chief Scientific Advisors of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States published a ‘Statement on harnessing science and technology to address the challenges of today and open doors to the future’. They affirmed their “commitment to leveraging science and technology to meet the greatest challenges of our time”, including climate change.
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Government Chief Scientific Advisor visit
Earlier this month, we welcomed Professor Dame Angela McLean, Government Chief Scientific Advisor (GCSA) to Met Office HQ from the Government Office for Science. The common theme from GCSA throughout the day was a focus on how what we do and the science advice we provide, directly relates to making life better for citizens. In the coming months, we will be working closely with GO-Science to further our effort to increase the UK's resilience to the changing climate.
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