Latest News
December 2021 - EPSRC funded projects available for September 2022
Topics available: 1. "Machine learning for high impact weather system identification" 
2. "Quantifying dynamical forcing mechanisms of midlatitude weather systems" 
Get in touch if you're interested!
November 2021 - Fully funded PhD projects available for September 2022
Projects available through the NERC GW4+ Doctoral Training Program
1. High impact weather events from fronts – weather forecasts and future projections. With Dr Duncan Ackerley and Helen Titley from the Met Office
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/award/?id=4254
2. Tracking Storms and Extreme Rainfall over Brazil in Convection-Permitting Simulations of Present and Future Climate. With Dr Rob Chadwick at Exeter, Dr Kate Halladay, Met Office, and Dr Neil Hart, University of Oxford.
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/award/?id=4256

April 2019 - PhD opportunity for September 2019 - Atmospheric Drivers of UK flood events: Current State and Future Changes

PhD opportunity re-opened until 29th April!
​The project will be supervised by Dr Jennifer Catto at the University of Exeter, Dr Marie Ekstrom at Cardiff University, Dr Alison Kay and Dr Ali Rudd at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and Dr Malcom Roberts and Dr Segolene Berthou at the Met Office. For eligible students (from UK or EU), the project comes with a stipend, fees paid, and a generous travel and research budget.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss this opportunity, or see the advert for more information and to apply: www.exeter.ac.uk/studying/funding/award/?id=3333
January 2019 - Postdoctoral Research position available at The University of Exeter
I am advertising for an opportunity to work on aspects of the midlatitude storm tracks with me as part of a large NERC project, EMERGENCE. Please see the job advert for details or to apply. I also welcome any informal enquiries. 
December 2018 - Two new publications in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
The papers are about the climatology and dynamics of hybrid cyclones in the Australian region. These hybrid cyclones account for about 50% of cyclones in the region, and while the precipitation impacts are similar to non-hybrid cyclones, the wind impacts are larger. We also classify the cyclones using clustering and investigate the composite structure and dynamics of the cyclones. The two papers are available here: "Synoptic climatology of hybrid cyclones in the Australian region", and here: "The intensity and motion of hybrid cyclones in the Australian region in a composite potential vorticity framework".
November 2018 - PhD opportunity - Atmospheric Drivers of UK flood events: Current State and Future Changes

The project will be supervised by Dr Jennifer Catto at the University of Exeter, Dr Marie Ekstrom at Cardiff University, Dr Alison Kay and Dr Ali Rudd at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and Dr Malcom Roberts and Dr Segolene Berthou at the Met Office. For eligible students (from UK or EU), the project comes with a stipend, fees paid, and a generous travel and research budget.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss this opportunity, or see the advert for more information and to apply: www.exeter.ac.uk/studying/funding/award/?id=3333
 

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March 2018 - Two new publications accepted in Journal of Climate

The first paper is titled "Projected change in wintertime precipitation in California using projected changes in extratropical cyclone activity" by Luke Osburn, Kevin Keay and myself. This paper investigates uncertainty in precipitation projections associated with uncertainty in changes in the storm tracks and adds to the literature indicating that extratropical cyclone-related precipitation will increase in the future.  

The second paper is "A New Method to Objectively Classify Extratropical Cyclones for Climate Studies: Testing in the Southwest Pacific Region", which is a major outcome of my DECRA project, and shows that cyclones can be grouped automatically using fairly simple metrics and methods and gives additional information about extratropical cyclone variability.

See my Publications page for more.

November 2017 - PhD project available at the University of Exeter

We are inviting applications for a funded PhD studentship project “Quantifying the risk of European extreme windstorm and precipitation events associated with extratropical cyclones.” at the University of Exeter.

This project will be supervised by Dr Jennifer Catto and Professor David Stephenson in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Exeter, and by Dr Nick Dunstone at the UK Met Office.  The project has potential for CASE support by the Met Office.
Extratropical cyclones are extremely important for the variability of weather over the UK and are often associated with extreme winds or rainfall, which are potentially very damaging. The aim of this project is to quantify the real risk of this important natural hazard using the Met Office seasonal to decadal prediction system ensemble.
This project would be suited to students with a good degree in physics, mathematics, statistical science, atmospheric science, or another closely related physical or environmental science.  Experience in statistical or numerical modelling and computer programming is highly desirable.
 Start date:  September 2018
 Please see further details at http://www.exeter.ac.uk/studying/funding/award/?id=2982.


September 2017 - Started new position at the University of Exeter
I am very happy to have started my new position as Lecturer in the College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences, as part of the Exeter Climate Systems group.  More information will be coming soon on new projects and activities within this new position.
June 2017 - PhD project available at the University of Exeter
College funded PhD Studentship in atmospheric/climate science: Understanding future changes in midlatitude weather systems

A PhD project to start in Autumn 2017 is available with me and co-supervised by Professor Mat Collins.  Please contact me if you are interested.

Project Description:
​Extratropical cyclones are a vital part of the global circulation and provide large amounts of rainfall to the midlatitudes.  It is important to understand how these features may change in a warmer climate by using global climate models.  Not all extratropical cyclones are the same, however, and their changes may be sensitive to different aspects of the climate system (e.g., surface changes, moisture changes). Some may not be as well represented in climate models as others (for example those with a strong reliance on moist processes for their development). 

There are a number of methods that have been used to classify extratropical cyclones. The first goal of this PhD project is to further develop such methods using observational datasets, and apply these to present and future climate model simulations.  The student will evaluate state-of-the-art climate models and their ability to represent different types of extratropical cyclones, providing valuable information to the modelling community. The student will also develop a framework for understanding the sensitivity of different types of cyclones to different aspects of future climate change.
This project would be suited to students with a good degree in physics, mathematics, atmospheric science, or another closely related physical or environmental science.  Experience in computer programming/coding highly desirable.

12th January 2017 - Paper published in Scientific Reports
"Extreme weather caused by concurrent cyclone, front and thunderstorm occurrences"
Paper available open access from here.
Abstract:
Phenomena such as cyclones, fronts and thunderstorms can cause extreme weather in various regions
throughout the world. Although these phenomena have been examined in numerous studies, they have
not all been systematically examined in combination with each other, including in relation to extreme
precipitation and extreme winds throughout the world. Consequently, the combined influence of these
phenomena represents a substantial gap in the current understanding of the causes of extreme weather
events. Here we present a systematic analysis of cyclones, fronts and thunderstorms in combination
with each other, as represented by seven different types of storm combinations. Our results highlight
the storm combinations that most frequently cause extreme weather in various regions of the world.
The highest risk of extreme precipitation and extreme wind speeds is found to be associated with
a triple storm type characterized by concurrent cyclone, front and thunderstorm occurrences. Our
findings reveal new insight on the relationships between cyclones, fronts and thunderstorms and clearly
demonstrate the importance of concurrent phenomena in causing extreme weather.
23rd May 2016 - Review paper accepted in Reviews of Geophysics
"Extratropical cyclone classification and its use in climate studies"
This paper is available as early online release here.
1st November 2015 - Paper published in Journal of Climate
"Global Relationship between Fronts and Warm Conveyor Belts and the Impact on Extreme Precipitation"

5th October 2015 - Paper accepted in Geophysical Research Letters
"Can the CMIP5 models represent winter frontal precipitation?"

Summary
 
A lot of rain in the midlatitudes comes from weather fronts. Only when climate models correctly simulate these fronts and how they relate to rainfall can we put greater trust in their projections for the future. We have used a new technique to separate out the rainfall associated with fronts to test the latest climate models. Although the rainfall associated with fronts tends to occur to often and be too light, the characteristics of the frontal rainfall are better represented than those of other rainfall. This could lead to increased confidence in future projections of rainfall in the midlatitudes.
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August 2015 - National Science Week event - Living Science at Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. 
 
We took along computers and introduced people to the Monash Simple Climate Model (MSCM).  This is a great tool for understanding the different components of the climate system and allows you to ask questions like "What happens if you take away the clouds?".  There were quite a few children who did really well in the puzzles - figuring out which processes might be missing from planets that feature in Star Wars!
April 2015:
Science Snippets
I recently gave a presentation for the Science Snippets lunchtime sessions at Monash University on fronts and rainfall.  You can see the presentation on youtube.


Google scholar page