The Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) today announced the Award Winners for 2022 recognising people and teams who have made exceptional contributions relating to weather, climate and associated disciplines.
The National Oceanography Centre’s (NOC) Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva received the prestigious ‘International Journal of Climatology Editors’ Award alongside Mr Mike Kendon (Met Office), Dr Mark McCarthy (Met Office), Professor Tim Sparks (Volunteer with the Woodland Trust) and co-authors.
This Award recognises the team of authors who annually produce the State of the UK Climate reports. These have been published as a Special Supplement to the International Journal of Climatology since 2017.
The team’s acceptance message read: “We are delighted to accept the International Journal of Climatology Editors’ Award for the annual State of UK Climate reports. These are intended to provide an authoritative up-to-date assessment of the UK’s climate and how it is changing: if we are to understand our climate of the future, first we must understand our current climate and how it has changed in the past. The reports represent a culmination of a much wider team effort, so we wish to accept this award on behalf of all contributors. We especially acknowledge the work of members of the Met Office National Climate Information Centre team. Monitoring the UK’s climate requires persistence and commitment, with the integrity of the science at the core of what we do
As an island nation with many thousands of miles of coastline, including major coastal cities, coastal erosion, flood risk and rising sea levels are a threat in many areas, and it is important these are carefully monitored. Similarly, it is vital that we understand how the natural world is responding to our changing climate. We are therefore pleased that this report also pulls together sections on sea level and phenology in one collaborative effort.
A common theme through all sections of the report are the observations, without which a report like this would simply not be possible. We are lucky in the UK to have many observations from professional and volunteer observers collected over decades, sometimes over centuries. We are grateful for these contributions, for the hard work of teams maintaining the observing networks, and ongoing efforts to rescue and digitize historical observations. But nothing should be taken for granted: above all, this report highlights the importance of adequately maintaining our observation networks into the future. We are grateful for the recognition this award brings. Thank you.”
Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva is a sea level scientist working at the Marine Systems Modelling group at NOC. She specialises in the synthesis of observations and models to develop our understanding of physical mechanisms for global and regional sea level rise and variability, their impact in coastal areas, changes in tropical cyclones in warming climate and extreme sea levels.
Also part of the team of authors is Dr Andy Matthews, a Sea Level Data Manager and the Technical Lead for the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL), working in the Marine Physics and Ocean Climate (MPOC) group at NOC. For the last 6 years, he has been responsible for processing the UK sea level trends data in the State of UK Climate reports. He is an expert in recovering, quality controlling, archiving and distributing sea level data measured at tide gauges across the world.