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Portable Infrastructure for the Metafor Metadata System
No full textPIMMS (Portable Infrastructure for the Metafor Metadata System) provides institutions with tools to capture information about the workflow of running simulations from the design of experiments to the implementation of experiments via simulations running models. PIMMS uses the Metafor methodology for simulation documentation which consists of a common information model (CIM), a set of controlled vocabularies (CV) and software tools. PIMMS software tools provide for the creation and consumption of CIM content via a web infrastructure and portal.PIMMS will refactor the “CMIP5 questionnaire” metadata management tool, that is collecting climate model metadata for the CMIP5 model inter-comparison project, so that it can be more easily portable into stand alone installations within the university environment and customised to address the specific requirements of individual research groups. Initial model descriptions may take time to complete but once they have been cre ated the PIMMS infrastructure can be used to document subsequent variations by describing only those elements that are changed. An established PIMMS infrastructure will fit seamlessly into the research metadata workflow and significantly reduce subsequent documentation effort. The key to the customisation of PIMMS is in the modularity of its tools and the clear separation of structure (CIM) from content (CV). The PIMMS project will extend the CMIP5 controlled vocabulary to encompass descriptions of paleoclimate models and will also demonstrate how the CIM can be used to document an Integrated Assessment Model (IAM). This proof of concept prototype will create a new controlled vocabulary in collaboration with Ermitage and use it to reconfigure PIMMS to collect metadata in a different discipline. PIMMS will further explore how the CV that is used to configure PIMMS may be of further use to our stake holders and the wider JISC community through the development of the Uni versity of Cambridge chemicaltagger tool. PIMMS will provide a local portal so that research groups can view and search their own content, as well as publish their metadata content to institutional, national and international services. In addition PIMMS will also include data node software so that data documented with PIMMS can also be published to the web, both locally, and to national and international services
Data citation and publication by the UK's NERC data centres
No full textA poster describing data citation and publication by the NERC data centres.
The UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funds six data centres which between them have responsibility for the long-term management of NERC's environmental data holdings. The NERC Science Information Strategy (SIS) has been created to provide the framework for NERC to work more closely and effectively with its scientific communities in delivering data and information management services
Why Archive Environmental Data?
No full textAn overview of the reasons why archiving environmental data properly is an important activity and the benefits to both data suppliers and end users
Responses to the UKCP09 Science Peer Review March 2011
No full textResponses to the UKCP09 Science Peer Review March 201
Black carbon emission factors and size distribution from biomass burning in California
No full textBlack carbon (BC) aerosol plays an important role in global and regional climate, and has been described as the second most important radiative forcing agent. Biomass burning accounts for a significant fraction (40%) of global BC emissions, both from wildfires and human activities such as slash-and-burn deforestation, crop-residue burning and prescribed fires used for land management. Trace gas and aerosol emission factors, including BC, change with different combustion conditions and thus the amount of BC in smoke shows considerable variation. Freshly emitted smoke changes with time to become a regional haze, a process not well understood. There are large uncertainties regarding the processes through which BC becomes mixed with primary and secondary aerosol species and the extent to which mixing state affects the radiative properties of BC. Further understanding of these areas will lead to improvements in the treatment of biomass burning BC in global climate modelling and more accurate predictions of its impacts on climate and visibility.
Properties of biomass burning aerosols were investigated using airborne sampling with a Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) (Droplet Measurement Technologies, Boulder, Colorado). During the field study, the SP2 was mounted on the US Forest Service (USFS) Twin Otter aircraft and flown through smoke plumes from prescribed fires as part of the SLOBB (San Luis Obispo Biomass Burning experiment) campaign in California in November 2009. Plumes were sampled on scales ranging from near-source to 60 km downwind. We present BC size distributions and emission factors. An analysis of particle aging behaviour combining the SP2 measurements with aerosol composition measurements made simultaneously by an Aerodyne compact Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) is also presented. Data collected from an Airborne Fourier-Transform Infrared spectrometer (AFTIR) system provided information regarding several important trace gas species emitted from fires and allowed for a better determination of plume aging processes
UKCP09 Storm projections
No full textThe following text summarizes the information available on storms in UKCIP02, UKCP09 and selected other sources. It must be emphasized that different publications can define storms differently and so readers must be clear how a storm is being defined within the resource they are reading. The following text regarding UKCIP02 and UKCP09 is not referring to thunderstorms or convective activity, nor is it looking at storm surges. In terms of timescales, it is referring to storm activity up to the end of the 21st century
UK Climate Projections Briefing Report
No full textThis report provides a summary of the 2009 UK Climate Projections (UKCP09), consolidating for the general reader the scientific reports describing the methodology and some key projections of future climate change for the UK over the 21st century. The UKCP09 Projections provide a basis for studies of impacts and vulnerability
and decisions on adaptation to climate change in the UK over the 21st century. Projections are given of changes to climate, and of changes in the marine and coastal environment; recent trends in observed climate are also discussed. Each will be treated separately in this summary
