About the Project
This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/
Location: Streatham Campus, Exeter
Supervisors:
Main Supervisor: Prof Mat Collins (University of Exeter)
Co-Supervisor: Dr Hugo Lambert (University of Exeter)
Co-Supervisor: Dr Rob Chadwick (Met Office)
Project description:
Future changes in tropical precipitation have the potential to produce some of the most severe impacts of climate change. This is particularly true in monsoon regions, where over two billion people in Asia alone are dependent on monsoon rainfall. Unfortunately, current projections of regional precipitation changes in the tropics are very uncertain across models, inhibiting adaptation planning and providing major challenges for the detection and attribution of observed tropical precipitation trends.
Dynamical shifts in the location of convection have been identified as the primary driver of precipitation change in monsoon regions. However, different monsoons respond in diverse ways, with for example India generally projected to get wetter but the North American monsoon region getting drier. This suggests that the balance of processes driving rainfall change differs between the various monsoon regions. Furthermore, model biases in simulating present-day monsoons imply reduced confidence in projections.
Project Aims and Methods:
In order to reduce uncertainty in projections, it is first necessary to improve our understanding of which processes are most important in each region and to quantify the role of model biases. This can lead to emergent constraints.
A new set of experiments (co-ordinated by co-supervisor Chadwick), designed to isolate the influence of different aspects of CO2 forcing on regional climate change, is included in the forthcoming set of CMIP6 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 experiments). These will show the balance between the effects of uniform SST warming, patterned SST warming, direct CO2 radiative absorption, the plant physiological response to CO2, and sea-ice changes, for each model and region. Changes in mean climate, seasonality, and daily-scale rainfall will all be examined. The main research questions are:
1) Which aspects of CO2 forcing are most important for driving precipitation and circulation changes in each monsoon region, both for the CMIP6 ensemble mean and inter-model uncertainty?
2) Once the dominant processes are understood, can present-day observations be used to provide emergent constraints on monsoon projections?
3) How do present-day SST biases affect CMIP6 projections of water cycle change in monsoon regions?
Training:
In addition to the standard GW4+ training, the candidate will attend master-level lecture courses on geophysical fluid dynamics, weather and climate, research methodology. Access to Met Office short courses on modeling, weather and climate will also be available.
Entry Requirements:
Applicants should have obtained, or be about to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class UK Honours degree, or the equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK. Applicants with a Lower Second Class degree will be considered if they also have Master’s degree. Applicants with a minimum of Upper Second Class degree and significant relevant non-academic experience are encouraged to apply. For this project, a strong mathematics and/or physics background is essential. Research project experience in climate is desirable, but not essential.
All applicants would need to meet our English language requirements by the start of the project http://www.exeter.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/english/.
Applicants who are classed as International for tuition fee purposes are not eligible for funding
How to Apply:
During the Exeter application process you will be asked to upload several documents, including:
• CV
• Letter of application
• Transcript(s) giving full details of subjects studied and grades/marks obtained. This should be an interim transcript
if you are still studying.
• If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country you will need to submit evidence of your current
proficiency in English.
You will be asked to name 2 referees as part of the application process however we will not contact these people until the shortlisting stage. Your referees should not be from the prospective supervisory team.
The closing date for applications is midnight on 8th May 2018. Interviews will be held at the University of Exeter in the week commencing 21st May 2018
If you have any general enquiries about the application process please email [Email Address Removed].
Project-specific queries should be directed to the supervisor.
References
Brown, J.R., Moise, A.F., Colman, R. and Zhang, H. (2016). Will a warmer world mean a wetter or drier Australian monsoon? J. Climate, 29, 4577-4596
Chadwick, R., Boutle, I. and Martin, G. (2013). Spatial Patterns of Precipitation Change in CMIP5: Why the Rich Do Not Get Richer in the Tropics. J. Climate, 26(11): 3803-3822.
Chadwick, R., Douville, H. and Skinner, C. (2017). Timeslice experiments for understanding regional climate projections: applications to the tropical hydrological cycle and European winter circulation. Clim. Dyn., DOI:10.1007/s00382-016-3488-6
Collins M, Knutti R, Arblaster J, Dufresne JL, Fichefet T, Friedlingstein P, Gao X, Gutowski WJ, Johns T, Krinner G, Shongwe M, Tebaldi C, Weaver A, Wehner M (2013) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group 1 to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge Univ. Press, pp 1054–1099
Li, G., Xie, S.-P., He, C. and Chen, Z. (2017). Western Pacific emergent constraint lowers projected increase in Indian summer monsoon rainfall. Nat. Clim. Change, DOI:10.1038/NCLIMATE3387
Seager R, Naik N, Vecchi GA (2010) Thermodynamic and dynamic mechanisms for large-scale changes in the hydrological cycle in response to global warming. J Clim 23(17):4651–4668
Webb M, Andrews T, Bodas-Salcedo A, Bony S, Bretherton C, Chadwick R, Chepfer H, Douville H, Good P, Kay J, Klein S, Marchand R, Medeiros B, Siebesma A, Skinner C, Stevens B, Tselioudis G, Tsushima Y, Watanabe M (2016) The Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project (CFMIP) contribution to CMIP6. Geosci Model Dev. doi:10.5194/gmd-2016-70