The MPE Exhibition programme also includes a public lecture , featuring an outstanding and fascinating talk.
Date: Monday, 30th May 2022
Time: 16:00
Venue: ICCL402, EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training Suite on Level 4N
Speaker: Prof Peter Lynch (An Irish meteorologist, mathematician, blogger and book author, University College Dublin)
Title: The Origins of Computer Weather and Climate Prediction: Fulfilment of Richardson’s Dream
Abstract:
Over the past few decades, weather forecasts have become impressively accurate. Forecast failures are rare and evoke strong reaction in the media. Climate prediction is still fraught with uncertainty, but great progress is under way.
The basic principles of numerical prediction and climate modelling were established long before electronic computers were available. Just one hundred years ago, Lewis Fry Richardson published his great work “Weather Prediction by Numerical Process”. The algorithm that he presented amounts in essence, to a general circulation model of the atmosphere, capable of describing both weather and climate.
In this lecture, we will review Richardson’s monumental study, and the triumphs and failures of his attempt to forecast the weather. His methods are at the core of atmospheric simulation and it may be reasonably claimed that his work is the basis of modern weather and climate forecasting. His dream has come true.