In this issue of Weather

Abstract

This month, we publish four papers that were written following presentations at last year’s RMetS Student Conference. They cover a wide range of subjects, demonstrating the health of meteorological science in the UK and the importance of weather data. The students were each the lead authors of their articles. We begin with ‘The role of cyclone clustering during the stormy winter of 2013/2014’ by Matthew Priestley, Joaquim Pinto, Helen Dacre and Len Shaffrey on p. 187. This paper outlines the evidence that depressions may deepen rapidly in association with Rossby-wave breaking. This was seen in particular during the winter of 2013/14, when many depressions became storms, having crossed the Atlantic along a similar course to enter the left exit of a persistent strong high-level jet stream. Some of these deep depressions bring storm-force winds into Europe and so may be associated with significant damage and possible loss of life. Next, we move south. In ‘Does high-resolution modelling improve the spatial analysis of föhn flow over the Larsen C Ice Shelf?’ on p. 192, J V Turton, A Kirchgaessner, A N Ross and J C King examine the advances made as model resolution improves, as well as the remaining shortcomings. The Larsen C Ice Shelf lies to the east of the mountainous Antarctic Peninsula and is often subject to the warm dry winds associated with lee flow. Föhn winds aid the break-up of the ice shelf and improvements in our knowledge can be important for the operations of scientists in the area – not least the British Antarctic Survey. Next, we move to the effects of the monsoon-dominated climate of West Africa. Preparedness allows farmers to take measures to protect against drought. Matt Brown, Emily Black, Dagmawi Asfaw and Fred Otu-Larbi examine a method to predict drought during the growing season in the relatively dry Sahel zone in ‘Monitoring drought in Ghana using TAMSAT-ALERT: a new decision support system’ on p. 201. They set out its increasing value as this prediction tool is developed, but also investigate its shortcomings. TAMSAT-ALERT relies on satellite data, surface observations and ensemble output from the Met Office Unified Model, as well as a knowledge of evolution of soil moisture under a range of weather scenarios. The last of our Special Issue papers is on p. 206: ‘The local response of El Niño events and changing disease distribution in Tanzania’ by Rachael Reynolds, Gina Cavan and Mark Cresswell. One of the challenges presented by global climate change is the possible spread of diseases responsive to moisture and temperature, although some diseases may become restricted in a more humid world. El Niño years bring at least some of the weather likely to be seen in an anthropogenically warmed world, so this study compares disease data from recent El Niño years with those in other years.