Supervisor: Dr Amanda Maycock
Department: School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds
Description:
During 16-21 February 2022, the UK and Ireland experienced major disruption from a sequence in intense extratropical cyclones: Dudley, Eunice and Franklin. The storms brought widespread disruption including heavy rain, flooding and record-breaking wind gusts. In February 2022, the stratospheric polar vortex – a band of strong winds circling the North pole 30 km above the Earth’s surface – was also the strongest on record. This project will investigate using subseasonal forecast data whether there was a link between these two occurrences, and specifically whether the anomalous stratospheric conditions produced a favourable situation for serial extratropical clustering. This knowledge will help to understand one factor that may affect storm clustering and its associated human risks. You will join the vibrant Physical Climate Change research group and interact with members of the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science. The project would suit an applicant from a quantitative subject (physics, maths, computing, natural sciences etc) who is interested in learning about scientific programming, data analysis and weather and climate dynamics.