News

Ongoing news as the INCOMPASS project develops are listed here in reverse chronological order. Please send a mail to Andy Turner if you have any news items to add.

INCOMPASS annual project meeting, 29-31 March 2017

March 2017 saw the annual project meeting of INCOMPASS, kindly hosted by Prof. GS Bhat at CAOS, IISc, Bengaluru (Bangalore).

30 attendees discussed initial results from the 2016 INCOMPASS field campaign using modelling, and aircraft and ground observations to understand the Indian monsoon.

The meeting also set the priorites for data analysis over the remainder of the INCOMPASS programme and solidified India-UK collaborations in monsoon science.

India and UK participants at the INCOMPASS meeting, 31 March 2017 (© IISc 2017).

The detailed agenda of the meeting is available here. Presentations may be available on request.

Please contact the PI, Dr Andy Turner (a.g.turner@reading.ac.uk) for more information.

University of Reading INCOMPASS postdoc position, 25 March 2017

A further PDRA ("postdoc") position is available at University of Reading to work on the INCOMPASS project, analysing observational and modelling data from the 2016 field campaign.

The PDRA will work with the PI, Dr Andy Turner, and the existing PDRA Dr Arathy Menon.

Full-time, fixed-term for up to 24 months, to start summer 2016. Salary starting from GBP29,301 per annum.

You will join a large consortium project led by the University of Reading and with collaborators at other UK institutes (including the Met Office) and in India. You will be responsible for analysing aircraft measurements and other instrumental data from the 2016 INCOMPASS field campaign India, for interrogating high-resolution models with the observational data, and publishing the results.

You will have:

• A PhD or equivalent in physical or mathematical sciences
• Experience of analyzing climate model outputs or a diverse range of un-gridded observational data
• Strong scientific computing skills
• An understanding of physical processes relating to weather & climate

Informal contact details: Dr Andy Turner / +44 (0)118 378 6019 / a.g.turner@reading.ac.uk

Apply here. Closing date 28 April 2017. Interviews will be held in May 2017.

STEM for Britain competition, 13 March 2017

Arathy Menon, research scientist at University of Reading, particpated in the annual STEM for Britain competition at the House of Commons of the UK parliament (STEM=Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics), promoting her involvement in the INCOMPASS project. Various articles have been published about this work:

• Manoram Online newspaper article
• A newspaper cutting relating to this
• A further newspaper cutting relating to this

Download Arathy's STEM for Britain poster: Using aircraft and ground measurements over India to improve forecasts of monsoon rainfall

Dr Arathy Menon presents her poster at the STEM for Britain competition 2017 (© STEM for Britain 2017).

CSIR-NAL visit, 24 June 2016

Andy Turner, Kieran Hunt, Gill Martin and Doug Parker visited Mrudula and her colleagues at CSIR-NAL in Bengaluru for discussions of INCOMPASS and a tour of the lab. The tour included a flight simulator, wind tunnel and aeronuatic antenna testing suite, as well as a presentation on INCOMPASS to interested scientists. Photos © NAL 2016.

IIT-Kanpur visit, 2 June 2016

Andy Turner, Danijel Belusic and Jennifer Fletcher visited Prof. Sachi Tripathi's team at IIT Kanpur on 2 June, to visit the newly installed flux tower and other ground instruments. Photos © Andy Turner 2016.

	The tower's field location and a troublesome visitor.
	The UK team in the tower enclosure.
	The tower.
	IIT Kanpur scientist "TC" hard at work adjusting the tower.
	Shade is important while working in the heat and intense sunshine.

IIT-Bhubaneswar flux tower site, 31 May 2016

Prof. Bhat and Sandeep Pattnaik are continuing their preparation of the eddy-covariance flux tower site at IIT-Bhubaneswar. The tower is assembled and the sonic wind, temperature, H20 and CO2 sensors are mounted. On the next visit, soil and net radiation sensors will be installed. Photos © Sandeep Pattnaik 2016.

Flux tower installation, IIT-Bhubaneswar, 29 May 2016

Prof. GS Bhat working on the installation of the eddy-covariance flux tower at IIT-Bhubaneswar, 29 May 2016. Assisted by Prof. Sandeep Pattnaik.

Prof. GS Bjat mounting the IIT-Bhubaneswar EC-flux tower. Photo © Sandeep Pattnaik, 2016.

Rooftop observations, 00LT, Lucknow, 29 May 2016

Observations from midnight local time on Lucknow's highest observation platform. Winds were strong, advecting considerable dust from the northwest prior to a prolonged pre-monsoon thunderstorm.

Parts of the INCOMPASS team prior to the thunderstorm. Photo © Andy Turner 2016.

Settling in, Taj Vivanta Hotel Lucknow, 21 May 2016

Orientation and acclimatization meeting in the northern hotel base, Lucknow, while we await the arrival of the FAAM Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA). Prepatations for flight plans and forecasting methods are still ongoing.

Andy Turner, Kieran Hunt, and (seated) Arathy Menon, Danijel Belusic and Jennifer Fletcher. Photo © Kieran Hunt 2016.

Flux tower installations, February 2016

Ross Morrison and Dan Rylett of CEH (Wallingford), together with Oliver Halliday of Leeds, have continued the installation and configuration of eddy-covariance flux towers at Kanpur, Berambadi and Dharwad during February 2016. These towers provide high frequency information on surface radiation and turbulent heat fluxes, together with meteorological data at the same location, that will be automatically archived. These installations will join a group that will expand to around 8 towers spread across India and be accessible to INCOMPASS during the 2016 monsoon season and beyond.

The fisheye lens of these phenocam images from the Berambadi tower allow a quick-look at sky and ground conditions, particularly to see what crops are growing in the vicinity. At the time of writing, the surounding fields look ploughed but have nothing growing. Photo © Ross Morrison/CEH 2016.

Ceilometer installation, IIT Kanpur, November 2015

A lidar ceilometer manufactured by Campbell Scientific, and funded by INCOMPASS, has been installed on the roof of the old control tower at IIT-Kanpur. The ceilometer will measure cloud base for the next several years. Installation has been enabled by a visit of Dr Victoria Smith and Peter Willetts of University of Leeds; local works have been hosted by INCOMPASS partner Prof. Sachi Tripathi.

Victoria (Tor) Smith and Peter Willetts of Leeds with Kanpur scientists 'TC' and Chandan. The ceilometer is the white column in the centre background. Photo © Victoria Smith 2015.

Aircraft visit to Bengaluru, September 2015

As part of the recce visit of the research aircraft to India in September 2015, in preparation for the main 2016 field campaign, the aircraft and crew spent a couple of days in Bengaluru. Prof. Bhat and 27 students from IISc Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences visited the aircraft and its intruments. Photos © Mo Smith 2015. [an error occurred while processing this directive]