Climate research and future risk

Our research is improving the forecasting of droughts, floods, and other climate hazards. Rainfall, wind, heat and associated flood, drought and storm risks are on the increase. We are testing options for adaptation to future weather extremes.

We are developing high-resolution climate scenarios through new downscaling methods. We combine stochastic space-time modelling of extreme weather with high resolution climate models. This includes models that can represent convective rainfall.

UK Climate Projections

We developed the UKCP09 weather generator. This has been further developed into a cloud-enabled spatial weather simulator and an urban weather generator. We continue this work through involvement in the next-generation UKCP18 scenarios.

Global projects addressing current and future challenges

Our projects investigating rainfall extremes and flood risk are global in scope. Our work is crucial in helping to achieve global sustainable development goals.

We have developed practical applications to improve adaptation to climate change. We tackle challenges as part of the Global Water and Energy Exchanges Project.

As members of the Willis Research Network, we address the changing global flood regime and its impacts on the insurance industry.

Impacts of climate change on infrastructure in the UK are being investigated through EPSRC's Infrastructure and Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC). Our core membership of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research provides new policy-oriented challenges for our climate impacts analysis.

Developing the future generation of experts

Recently, NERC awarded us the ONE Planet Doctoral Training Programme. This allows us to draw on the expertise and facilities of both Newcastle and Northumbria University. We will provide a world-leading training environment for up to 60 PhD students.

Projects