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Climate newsletter |
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Issue 75 | 11 September 2024 |
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Spotlight on 'Met Office economic value report' |
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On 4 September, we announced the findings of independent research conducted by London Economics into the economic benefits and value the Met Office delivers to the UK. The report estimated that we will provide £56 billion worth of benefits over the next ten years and that for every £1 of public money spent, we will return £18.80 of value to the UK.
The Met Office contributes to the UK through the provision of weather services; climate services; benefits to industry; science, technology and innovation; and other key activities such as international partnerships.
The new report suggests that the Met Office’s benefit to climate adaptation and mitigation will be worth over £12 billion to the UK over the next decade.
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Today, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have released an update stating that there is a 60% chance of La Niña conditions emerging towards the end of this year. La Niña refers to the large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, coupled with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation, such as winds, pressure and rainfall. The effects of each La Niña event vary depending on its intensity, duration, time of year it develops, and the interaction with other climate drivers.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo highlights that “Since June 2023 we have seen an extended streak of exceptional global land and sea surface temperature. Even if a short-term cooling La Niña event does emerge, it will not change the long-term trajectory of rising global temperatures due to heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."
On 6 September, Copernicus published their latest climate bulletin announcing that summer 2024 was the hottest on record.
Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said, "During the past three months of 2024, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest boreal summer on record. This string of record temperatures is increasing the likelihood of 2024 being the hottest year on record. The temperature-related extreme events witnessed this summer will only become more intense, with more devastating consequences for people and the planet unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
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Since its inception in 2014, the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre (MOSWOC) has forecasted the arrival of thousands of space weather events, helping key industries to take steps to manage the risks posed by the sun, such as solar storms and coronal mass ejections which can affect GPS, satellites and power grids. In addition to operational forecasting, MOSWOC plays an international role in the development of space weather capability around the world, helping advance scientific understanding and develop resilience to space weather events. Our blog post share more about the anniversary, leaps forward for global space weather forecasting and new launch plans for enhanced forecasting accuracy.
 Met Office Chief Executive Penny Endersby, Met Office Head of Space Weather Mark Gibbs and Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office Abena Oppong-Asare MP.
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New research by an international team of climate experts shows intense, localised, heavy bursts of rainfall can be caused by a rapid rise of air through clouds and proves that these rises in air can be forecast.
Study lead author, Met Office Principal Fellow, and Visiting Professor at Newcastle University’s School of Engineering, Paul Davies, said: “The new model is aimed at enhancing the UK’s resilience to extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change.”
Published in the journal Weather and Climate Extremes, the study was led by the Met Office and Newcastle University, with support from the Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica and the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
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In October, we are launching our beta* Local Authority Climate Service (LACS), providing Local Authorities with crucial information on climate change in their local area. This will support decision-making, empowering Local Authorities to increase resilience to a changing climate and meet a commitment set out in the third National Adaptation Programme.
The Local Authority Climate Service, supported by Defra, is built using geospatial technology from Esri UK and is part of the Met Office Climate Data Portal.
In the accompanying launch webinar taking place on Wednesday 9 October, we will be explaining the background to the service and providing details of how this can be used to build awareness of climate change affecting your local area, aid decision-making and be integrated with the Local Partnerships Adaptation Toolkit.
*The LACS will be fully available for use following the webinar, but as we learn more about user requirements, we will be inviting feedback to help drive improvements.
Local Authorities can register now via the event page.
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