Ralph Burton

• University of Leeds

The urgency to mitigate the effects of climate change necessitates an unprecedented global deployment of offshore renewable-energy technologies mainly including offshore wind, tidal stream, wave energy, and floating solar photovoltaic. To achieve the global energy demand for terawatt-hours, the infrastructure for such technologies will require a la...

The urgency to mitigate the effects of climate change necessitates an unprecedented global deployment of offshore renewable-energy technologies mainly including offshore wind, tidal stream, wave energy, and floating solar photovoltaic. To achieve the global energy demand for terawatt-hours, the infrastructure for such technologies will require a la...

The ability to predict heavy rain and floods in Africa is urgently needed to reduce the socioeconomic costs of these events and increase resilience as climate changes. Numerical weather prediction in this region is challenging, and attention is being drawn to observationally based methods of providing short-term nowcasts (up to ∼6-h lead time). In...

The science guiding the EUREC⁴A campaign and its measurements is presented. EUREC⁴A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. Through its ability to characterize processes operating across a wide range of scales, EUREC⁴A marked a turning point in our abi...

The science guiding the EUREC4A campaign and its measurements is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. Through its ability to characterize processes operating across a wide range of scales, EUREC4A marked a turning point in our abi...

The North Sea is Europe's key oil and gas (O&G) basin with the output currently meeting 3 %–4 % of global oil supply. Despite this, there are few observational constraints on the nature of atmospheric emissions from this region, with most information derived from bottom-up inventory estimates. This study reports on airborne measurements of volatile...

On 20 October 2016, aircraft observations documented a significant train of lee waves above and downstream of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula on the west coast of Iceland. Simulations of this event with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model provide an excellent representation of the observed structure of these mountain waves. The orographic fe...

The science guiding the EUREC4A campaign and its measurements are presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly five weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and south-eastward of Barbados. Through its ability to characterize processes operating across a wide range of scales, EUREC4A marked a turning point in ou...

This article is part of the special issue “Elucidating the role of clouds–circulation coupling in climate:datasets from the 2020 (EUREC4A) field campaign”. It is not associated with a conference.

The North Sea is Europe's key oil and gas (O&G) basin with the output currently meeting 3-4 % of global oil supply. Despite this, there are few observational constraints on the nature of atmospheric emissions from this region, with most information derived from bottom-up inventory estimates. This study reports on airborne measurements of volatile o...

In this paper, a state-of the art numerical weather prediction (NWP) model is used to simulate the near-field plume of a Plinian-type volcanic eruption. The NWP model is run at very high resolution (of the order of 100 m) and includes a representation of physical processes, including turbulence and buoyancy, that are essential components of eruptio...

Using observations for two UK coastal sites <3 km from the sea, one on the West coast near the nuclear new build (NNB) site Hinkley Point C (HPC) and the other on the East coast, near the proposed NNB site Bradwell B (BRB), changes in surface two-metre temperatures are analysed. The output from a numerical model (WRF) experiment is used for a contr...

WISER .. Summer convective rainfall

This poster informs of access path to the WISER data set.

Volcanoes are a key natural source of CO2, but global estimates of volcanic CO2 flux are predominantly based on measurements from a fraction of world's actively degassing volcanoes. We combine high-precision airborne measurements from 2016 and 2017 with atmospheric dispersion modeling to quantify CO2 emissions from Katla, a major subglacial volcani...

Volcanoes are a key natural source of CO2 but global estimates of volcanic CO2 flux are predominantly based on measurements from a fraction of world's actively degassing volcanoes. We combine high‐precision airborne measurements from 2016 and 2017 with atmospheric dispersion modelling to quantify CO2 emissions from Katla, a major subglacial volcani...

An uncontrolled gas leak from 25 March to 16 May 2012 led to evacuation of the Total Elgin wellhead and neighbouring drilling and production platforms in the UK North Sea. Initially the atmospheric flow rate of leaking gas and condensate was very poorly known, hampering environmental assessment and well control efforts. Six flights by the UK FAAM c...

Climate change caused by green house gas emissions is now following the trend of rapid warming consistent with a RCP8.5 forcing. Climate models are still unable to represent the mesoscale convective processes that occur at resolutions ~ O(3km) and are not capable of resolving precipitation patterns in time and space with sufficient accuracy to repr...

An uncontrolled gas leak from 25 March to 16 May 2012 led to evacuation of the Total Elgin well head and neighbouring drilling and production platforms in the UK North Sea. Initially the atmospheric flow rate of leaking gas and condensate was very poorly known, hampering environmental assessment and well control efforts. Six flights by the UK FAAM...

The chance (or probability) of a dam failure can change for various reasons such as structural degradation, the impacts of climate change and land-use change. Similarly the consequences of dam failure (flooding) can change for many reasons such as growth in the population in areas below a dam. Consequently both the chance that a dam might fail and...

The spread of a dense gas in the atmosphere is a phenomenon that occurs widely with natural (and anthropogenic) causes and is often associated with high impact and hazardous events. In this study a method of simulating the spread of dense gases in a numerical weather prediction model is presented. This approach has the advantage that dense gases ca...

The global drive to produce low-carbon energy has resulted in an unprecedented deployment of onshore wind turbines, representing a significant land use change for wind energy generation with uncertain consequences for local climatic conditions and the regulation of ecosystem processes. Here, we present high-resolution data from a wind farm collecte...

Convective and Orographically-Induced Precipitation Study (COPS), conducted in the Black Forest region in Southern Germany and Eastern France during the summer of 2007. From the 13 June to the 16 August 2007, the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), Facility for Ground-based Atmospheric Measurement (FGAM) 1.5 μm scanning Doppler lidar wa...

This study aims to determine the important physical processes which need to be well represented in a model simulation of the deep convective cloud which occurred on the 15th July 2007 during the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS). During the afternoon of 15th July 2007, an isolated, deep convective cloud developed, rea...

This article presents observations and model simulations of the low‐level nocturnal structure of the atmosphere over West Africa. The measurements are taken from the dry‐season Special Observing Period (SOP‐0) of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA), at Niamey, Niger, on 23 and 24 January 2006. During this time, mesoscale structure...

The initiation of precipitating deep convection in an ensemble of convection-resolving mesoscale models is investigated. Results of eight different model runs from five non-hydrostatic models are compared for a case of the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS). An isolated convective cell initiated east of the Black Fores...

Observations of a case study from the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study on 20th July 2007 showed that in the outflow region of a Mesoscale Convective System, the Black Forest was responsible for convection regeneration above the crests of the mountains. The Weather Research and Forecasting numerical model has been run with a...

This paper presents application of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to limited-area modeling of atmospheric processes over the subtropical south-eastern Pacific, with the emphasis on the stratocumulus-topped boundary layer. The simulations cover a domain from the VAMOS (Variability of the American Monsoon Systems) Ocean-Cloud-Atmosp...

This paper discusses the application of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to limited-area modeling of atmospheric processes over the subtropical south-eastern Pacific, with the emphasis on the stratocumulus-topped boundary layer. The simulations cover a period of 42 h selected from the VAMOS (Variability of the American Monsoon Syste...

Doppler-On-Wheels radar observations made during the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS) on 12 August 2007 showed that precipitating clouds only developed between the north–south orientated Murg and Nagold Valleys of the northern Black Forest. The clouds produced moderate precipitation. The Weather Research and Forecast...

The present study investigates the initiation of precipitating deep convection in an ensemble of convection-resolving mesoscale models. Results of eight different model runs from five non-hydrostatic models are compared for a case of the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS). An isolated convective cell initiated east of...

During the Convective and Orographically induced Precipitation Study (COPS), a scanning Doppler lidar was deployed at Achern, Baden-Wüttemberg, Germany from 13 June to 16 August 2007. Vertical velocity profiles ('rays') through the boundary layer were measured every 3 seconds with vertical profiles of horizontal wind velocity being derived from per...

Detailed analysis of valley flows in complex terrain - A case study from the COPS field experiment

An accurate simulation of the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer is very important, as the evolution of the boundary layer sets the stage for many weather phenomena, such as deep convection. Over mountain areas the evolution of the boundary layer is particularly complex, due to the nonlinear interaction between boundary layer turbulence an...

Analyses of the African easterly jet (AEJ) are presented which are based on meridional transects of high-resolution dropsonde observations made during JET2000, an aircraft campaign conducted in the last week of August 2000. The observations have confirmed that the AEJ is closely defined by geostrophic balance. The baroclinicity between the extreme...

A field campaign aimed at observing the near-surface flow field across and downwind of a mountain range on the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic, is described. The objective was to understand and eventually predict orographically generated turbulence. The instrumentation was based primarily on an array of automatic weather stations (AWSs), which rec...

In a recent field experiment on the Isle of Arran, Scotland, measurements of surface pressure and near-surface wind fields were made along a roughly west–east transect on the hill Tighvein. A principal components analysis of these measurements has been made to determine any significant atmospheric modes of variability, and this (objective) method s...

Using numerical model analyses, it is shown that there is a coherent diurnal cycle of the West African monsoon winds. As has been observed in previous studies of arid and semi‐arid areas, the winds are at their weakest in the afternoon when the convective boundary layer (CBL) is deep, and intensify overnight when the boundary‐layer turbulence is mu...

The principal airfield in the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic, is Mount Pleasant Airfield (MPA), situated a few kilometres to the South of a substantial mountain range. The aviation operations at MPA can be severely restricted when the wind is Northerly, due to severe turbulence and rotor streaming events associated with the mountains to the North...

The properties of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) are crucial for understanding convection and dynamics in the tropical atmosphere. In semi‐arid regions, there are strong links between the PBL and soil moisture. This study demonstrates the link between PBL characteristics and antecedent rainfall via soil moisture variability on length‐scales fro...

Scientific background and motivation for the JET2000 aircraft observing campaign that took place in West Africa during the last week of August 2000 are presented. The Met Research Flight C130 aircraft made two flights along the African easterly jet (AEJ) between Sal, Cape Verde, and Niamey, Niger, and two "box" flights that twice crossed the AEJ at...

This paper uses simple one- and two-dimensional models to investigate the influence of a propagating line of convective forcing on a tropical jet, representative of the African easterly jet. The results are used to infer changes in the environment of the forcing region, which would in reality tend to influence the evolution of the storm through con...

The JET2000 experiment in August 2000 made observations of the African Easterly Jet and the West African Monsoon, including dropsondes at 0.5 to 1 degree resolution, on transects along and across the jet. The observations reveal significant mesoscale structure; notably there is evidence of coherent north-south circulations on scales of several degr...

Rainfall events have a substantial impact on land surface and planetary boundary layer (PBL) properties in semi-arid regions such as the Sahel. The increased availability of soil moisture for evaporation affects the surface energy balance for several days after a storm, as a deep and warm mixed layer redevelops above. The evolution of the surface a...

th August was selected after examination of the vertical velocity timeseries measured using Doppler lidar for that day showed what seemed to be a straightforward case of convective rainfall. The synoptic chart for this day didn't show any features to suggest otherwise. To confirm this, radiosonde data was examined and a convective boundary layer wa...

A unique orographic dataset, obtained during the recent T-REX experiment in the Sierra Nevada mountains, U.S.A, has been analysed by principal components analysis (PCA). The latter is an extremely powerful method of determining any underlying patterns in large volumes of (otherwise unmanageable) data. The method has been successfully applied to lee...