About the project or challenge area

Extreme rainfall is a primary cause of some of the biggest hazards we face: highs bring severe flooding and lows give prolonged droughts. The highest impact events are strongly linked to large-scale weather (e.g. the jet stream location). Future changes in large-scale weather due to climate change have substantial uncertainty. This leads to a large range of possibilities for changes in extreme rainfall, and these have not been well explored. This means we don’t have a good understanding of the worst case scenarios and the infrastructure/management options that need to be put in place. This project will investigate how projected changes in the occurrence of extreme large-scale weather will affect the risk of extreme rainfall in Europe and demonstrate the range of scenarios that planners should prepare for. There will be opportunity to utilise unique large ensemble climate model simulations that we have produced.

Why choose this project?

You will have the opportunity to learn how to analyse climate model simulations, including for understanding extreme weather events. You will also get the chance to work both with atmospheric scientists and hydrologists and develop rare interdisciplinary expertise. You will be able to build links with our Met Office partner as well.

About you

You will have enthusiasm for studying climate change’s effect on high-impact weather and will be able to demonstrate some ability in computer programming and statistical analysis (or an ability to learn these skills in the time available).

How to apply

All students can apply using the button below, following the Admissions Statement (PDF, 188kB). Please note that this is an advertised project, which means you only have to complete Section A of the Research Statement.

This project is not funded, for further details please use this link.

Before applying, we recommend getting in touch with the project's supervisors. If you are interested in this project and would like to learn more about the research you will be undertaking, please use the contact details on this page.