@ambroeusvolonte
Senior Research Fellow @ Uni of Reading Meteorology & NCAS | Sting jets💨 Cyclones (Arctic, Extratropical, Mediterranean....) 🌀 Alps🏔 Monsoons⛈️| Cycling,hiking & views all my own| Catholic, husband, dad, son
Following the withdrawal of funding by UKRI-NERC, we can confirm that the FAAM Airborne Laboratory will cease operations at the end of this financial year. Our immediate priority is supporting affected staff and the wider UK atmospheric science community.
ncas.ac.uk/closure-of-t...
8 days left to apply!
Are you investigating the role of "Diabatic processes across scales in the extratropics"?this? Do you want to know more about it? There's a workshop for you! diabatics2026.w.uib.no We have a great invited speakers line-up (despite me being one...).
Deadline for abstract submission is tomorrow!
Interested in revealing how moisture-driven surface cyclones can develop into hazardous windstorms, now and in the future? You could do it at @unirdg-met.bsky.social @ncas-uk.bsky.social, working with @benharvey.bsky.social, @jriboldi.bsky.social, Sue gray and me!
jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
To put it simply: "In other words: "Nothing in this world is indifferent to us: the quest for an integral ecology"
convergenceuk.org/integral-eco...
(4/4)
In this panel, the speakers will examine this human dimension of climate change, exploring how an understanding of the place of humans in the natural environment can contribute towards climate science, climate communication and policy development. (3/4)
@amoslawless.bsky.social and I were inspired by Pope Francis's words on the need for an integral ecology, taking into account the interconnectedness between all creatures and the environment in which they live, when we we decided to try organising a panel discussion. (2/4)
Really looking forward to the panel discussion with
Prof Ros Cornforth (Walker Centre, Uni of Reading)
Prof Sir Brian Hoskins (Uni of Reading & Imperial College London)
Dr Ben Wilson (Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund) taking place @ Corpus Christi College, Oxford at 10.30 am tomorrow (1/4)
This morning Sue Gray presented our work producing the first global climatology of sting-jet extratropical cyclones: wcd.copernicus.org/articles/5/1.... Using ERA5 we analysed ~10k top intensity 1979-2022 cyclones and looked for cloud-head mesoscale instability as a proxy of sting-jet activity
We particularly would like to highlight that SJ cyclones, ubiquitous in the extratropics, show a greater role of cloud diabatic processes in cyclone development, with implications for changes in the intensity of cyclones in a warmer future climate where diabatic processes are likely to be enhanced.
- SJ cyclones are globally more intense than nonSJ ones in terms of max low-level vorticity wind speed, deepening and central pressure anomaly at the time of max intensity
- SJ cyclones have a warmer core, more vigorous diabatic processes and more mesoscale instability in the cloud head....
Key results are:
- 75%of top intensity cyclones are develop a warm seclusion
- Cyclones containing sting jets (SJ) are likely to be present in all major ocean basins
- the tracks of SJ cyclones are at lower latitudes than their non-SJP counterparts, forming have warmer waters...
This morning Sue Gray presented our work producing the first global climatology of sting-jet extratropical cyclones: wcd.copernicus.org/articles/5/1.... Using ERA5 we analysed ~10k top intensity 1979-2022 cyclones and looked for cloud-head mesoscale instability as a proxy of sting-jet activity
#StormCiarán is an example of an extreme windstorm that in its early stages was mainly driven by low-level latent heating rather than by interacting with the upper-level jet. Will this development pathway become more frequent in our warming climate? One to watch in our opinion! @ncas-uk.bsky.social
At this European Storm Workshop I'll be presenting work done with @jriboldi.bsky.social highlighting the diabatic Rossby wave origin of #StormCiarán and its subsequent development into a severe warm-seclusion cyclone capable of producing sting jets: rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Sunriseview from Gurten Ostsignal towards the Jungfrau
Beautiful frosty sunrise this morning on the Gurten, above the freezing fog in Bern and with great views towards the Jungfrau group. A great start for the first day of the 10th European Storm Workshop!
Storm Éowyn developed through a process called explosive cyclogenesis
This brought the UK's highest wind gust of the season so far on Friday with 100mph gusts at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire
This view from space shows how the storm developed 👇
We've put together a little explainer on Storm Éowyn, its development, where it stands compared to other (in)famous storms and on whether future explosive cyclones could become more "sting-jetty" and diabatically driven
theconversation.com/why-meteorol...
@ncas-uk.bsky.social
Yes, and the CCB can be in some cases as strong or even slightly stronger than the SJ. So it's difficult to say whether surface winds will be higher with SJ ahead of CCB, SJ on top of CCB or SJ and CCB merging. It also depends on how efficient the momentum transport to the surface is, fun BL stuff!
sorry, I meant to post the URL rather than the DOI: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Whether the sting jet reached the boundary layer in the following hours in this forecast (and in reality!), that's not an easy question to answer (and let's not forget that at later times the dry intrusion too can descend enough to interact with low-level winds, as in Ciarán 10.1002/wea.7620) 2/2
Thanks Kaitlyn! There are clear signs of sting-jet descent taking place in this section: buckling theta_e lines, descent just outside the cloud -> max winds down to 800hPa are consistent with it. However, the >100kt winds at 900hPa are in cloud and in cold air: that's the front edge of the CCB 1/2
Worth stressing that while storm structure, intensity, sat imagery & gust timing/location are all consistent w/ sting-jet descent, we don't know yet if it reached the ground & caused the W Ireland record gusts. The cold conveyor belt might have had a role & is responsible for the gusts over Scotland
It will indeed be the cold conveyor belt (cold jet near the surface flowing around the bent-back warm front) that will bring the strongest winds over Scotland. Despite having a "less catchy" name than the sting jet, its intensity and impacts can't be underestimated 2/2
The intensity & structure of #StormÉowyn were certainly conducive to sting-jet descent. This satellite image would be consistent with it, as would be the timing and location of the record gust. However, we can't yet say whether the cold conveyor belt also played a role there 1/2
Storm Bert is set to hit the UK on Saturday, bringing strong winds, snow and rain.
We spoke to Ambrogio Volonté, Senior Research Fellow at @ncas-uk.bsky.social and the University of Reading, about named storms, and found out what has been causing the cold weather.
ncas.ac.uk/scientist-ex...
