Peter Clark's Past Research Interests

This page is under construction and incomplete!

Much of my research over the last 20 years has been associated with the Met Office's Unified Model. For details of this model see the Met Office's web pages.

Past research interests include:

1. Initiation and Development of Convection.

I was a leading member of the "Convective Storm Initiation Project" (CSIP), described in this BAMS article.

2. Development of "Convection-Permitting" versions of the Unified Model.

A new, non-hydrostatic, deep atmosphere dynamical core was developed for use in the Unified Model through the late 1990s. In 1998 I became head of the Met Office's Mesoscale Modelling Group in the Joint Centre for Mesoscale Meteorology, located in the University of Reading Meteorology Department. We developed microphysics and mixing parametrizations to enable the model to be used as a convection permitting model at ~1 km resolution, together with novel verification methods.

3. Representation of Urban Areas in Mesoscale Models.

   I contributed to the formulation and implementation of the MORUSES urban surface exchange scheme. This is documented in two QJRMS papers, part 1 and part 2.

4. Development of the "Site-Specific Forecasting Model".

   This is a 1D version of the Unified Model coupled to the operational mesoscale model, for forecasting locally-driven weather, in particular fog and low visibility. Briefly summarised in this extended abstract presented at the AMS Second Symposium on Urban Environment, 1998 .

5. Development of a system for forecasting visibility and fog within the Unified Model, using an aerosol variable derived primarily through assimilation of visibility observations. This is documented in a QJRMS paper.