Science & modelling FAQ

• Do the projections include intense convective rainfall such as occurs in thunderstorms?

• Does UKCP09 provide any information beyond 2100?

• Does UKCP09 consider changes to the Gulf Stream (Meridional Overturing Circulation)?

• How are the estimates of land movement used in the relative sea level projections derived?

• How are the models used in UKCP09 weighted, and how sensitive are the projections to this weighting?

• How can I deal with changes in the UK climate since the 1961-1990 baseline period?

• How do the projections in UKCP09 compare with those in UKCIP02?

• How do the storm projections for UKCIP02 and UKCP09 compare? Does UKCP09 show an increase in the frequency, intensity and severity of storms?

• How do I load the observed trends gridded data into ArcGIS?

• How does the Met Office Hadley Centre model compare with other models?

• How does UKCP09 model sea level rise?

• How have Cooling Degree Days (CDD) and Heating Degree Days (HDD) been calculated in UKCP09?

• What are the sources of uncertainty in the Marine & coastal projections?

• What atmospheric processes and feedbacks are included in the UKCP09 modelling?

• What does the frequency distribution associated with the sea level projections actually mean?

• What is clipping and why has it been done? What are the implications for use?

• What is the baseline period used for UKCP09?

• What methodology was used to generate Potential Evapotranspiration in the 11-member RCM?

• What uncertainties exist with the sea level rise and storm surge projections?

• What variables are available from the different UKCP09 terrestrial data sources?

• What variables are available from the 11-member RCM output accessed at the LINK website?

• Where can I find information on the coordinates and IDs of the grids?

• Why aren't only those models that best represent the historical climate used?

• Why is the baseline period for the sea level rise projections different from the UKCP09 1961-1990 baseline? And can I translate the sea level baseline period to the UKCP09 1961-1990 baseline period?

• Why are the storm surge, sea level waves and multi-level ocean projections not probabilistic?

• Why was the IPCC AR2 emissions scenario not used as the UKCP09 High emissions scenario?

• Why can't I aggregate two grid cells together with the probabilistic data?

• Will the PDFs incorporate the effect of natural multi-decadal variability as well as climate change?
• Are the projections at sea level or are local topographical effects taken into account?

• Last updated: Thursday, 19 July 2012