Congratulations to the winner of the BADC Competition

On 8th November the barmaid from The Plough at East Hendred drew the winner of the BADC competition.

Neal Butchart works in the Climate Research section of the Met Office, modelling the recovery of stratospheric ozone and also climate change in the stratosphere.

“It’s the first time I’ve won anything really useful. I’m glad I logged on to the BADC!”

Neal first seriously used the BADC in the 1990s to obtain TOMS data for validating their model, using tape to transfer all the data. A significant part of Neal’s current work on the validation of chemistry-climate models (CCMS) is funded by the EU’s SCOUT-O3 project. Neal co-leads one of the work packages on model comparison and evaluation. To carry out this work a central archive of model output from around 10 European models was needed. With help from Ag Stephens the BADC provided the facilities to support the database.

This model validation and comparison work of SCOUT-O3 links to the broader Chemistry-Climate Model Validation (CCMVal) activity for SPARC (Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate) which involves about 15 CCM groups worldwide. CCMVal is coordinated by Veronika Eyring from the DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Germany and Neal is a member of the steering committee. Model data from the 15 CCM groups worldwide was uploaded to the BADC and this database underpinned the model assessment and ozone projections used in the 2006 WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion.

The CCMVal database at the BADC is currently being developed into a more managed facility. It has been decided that the database of new model output in support of upcoming ozone and climate assessments and for the planned SPARC CCMVal report on the evaluation of CCMs will also be at the BADC.

Congratulations to Neal on winning himself an iPAQ hx2490

By the way, if you are wondering, the winning answer is that the image is “C: over the South pole in October” not, as suggested by another user, “Mr Dulux’s space hopper”!

BADC Helpdesk 28th November 2007