Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Zeke Hausfather @hausfath.bsky.social · May 14

Scientists have been publishing climate models since ~1970.

A good way to evaluate their skill is to compare what they expected to happen in the years after the model was published to observed climate changes.

It turns out most models were pretty spot-on:

14 190 420

Dr Stephen Thomson @stephenithomson.bsky.social · May 1

Thanks @meteodenny.bsky.social - it's here rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The effects of gravity on the climate and circulation of a terrestrial planet

The climate and circulation of a terrestrial planet are governed by many orbital and planetary parameters, but here we explore the effect of changing the Newtonian gravitational acceleration. We cons...

rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

1 1

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · Apr 9

Ending Cooperative Agreements’ Funding to Princeton University

On Tuesday, April 8, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced that nearly $4 million in funding is ending to Princeton University after a detailed, careful, and thorough review of the...

www.commerce.gov

10 26 89

Dr Stephen Thomson @stephenithomson.bsky.social · Mar 27

Please do forward these adverts to any interested students. We'd be delighted to recieve their application!

#phdposition #climate #weather #prediction #planets

1 1

Dr Stephen Thomson @stephenithomson.bsky.social · Mar 27

The second project is with Dr William Seviour looking at predicting weather extremes using rare event algorithms, in collaboration with scientists at the UK Met Office @metoffice.bsky.social.
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

Award details | Funding and scholarships for students | University of Exeter

www.exeter.ac.uk

1 1 2

Dr Stephen Thomson @stephenithomson.bsky.social · Mar 27

We're advertising 2 fully-funded PhD positions in atmospheric science @exeter.ac.uk for entry in September 2025. Both are open to UK and international appliants.
The first project is with me looking at Atmospheric heat transport across a range of planetary climates
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

Award details | Funding and scholarships for students | University of Exeter

www.exeter.ac.uk

1 10 7

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Antje Weisheimer @antjeweisheimer.bsky.social · Dec 20

The Predictability of Weather and Climate group at the Physics Department of the University of Oxford invites applications for an open-ended senior research position: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Job Details

my.corehr.com

1 13 16

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Geoff Vallis @gkvallis.bsky.social · Feb 6

Saying my first hello to BlueSky, and hoping it is a saner place than what the other site has unfortunately become.

5 8 32

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Dan Harris @roostweather.bsky.social · Jan 24

Here's some maps showing where today's winds fit in each station's all-time #climate, in terms of percentiles and "rank".

I tend to find 99%'ile or greater a good guide, with established stations, for impactful winds.

A number of all-time station records set in #StormÉowyn

4 22 87

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Simon Lee @simonleewx.com · Jan 22

>140mph gusts, in a global model, as Storm Éowyn approaches Britain and Ireland on Friday

ECMWF model forecast for 24 Jan 00Z showing wind gusts >140mph off the southwest of Ireland

8 20 100

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Andrew Dessler @andrewdessler.com · Jan 4

This is a very important issue. The success rate of proposals is so low that people spend all their time, writing proposals and not doing actual science. Another way science is broken.

Arthur Gessler @arthurobuntspecht.bsky.social · Dec 22

Researchers spend approximately 45% of their time on administrative activities related to #grants rather than actual #research. The current #competition in research #funding has significant drawbacks; evidence-based improvements of the funding system are required: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The costs of competition in distributing scarce research funds | PNAS

Research funding systems fundamentally influence how science operates. This paper aims to analyze the allocation of competitive research funding fr...

www.pnas.org

8 43 140

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Simon Lee @simonleewx.com · Jan 2

Adding this to the spring semester lecture material 😁

Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · Jan 2

Skew-T Log-P xkcd.com/3032

2 3 15

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

NSF Unidata @unidata.bsky.social · Dec 17

Do you love to write code or teach others about data-centered Earth Systems Science? Maybe you're interested in the interplay of science and data? The NSF Unidata Summer Internship program is looking for you! Apply by January 24, 2025 to work with us next summer: www.unidata.ucar.edu/blogs/news/e...

18 23

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Layal Hakim @drlayalhakim.bsky.social · Dec 14

Cheers to all for getting through Term 1! To the wonderful students, the supportive staff, and the occasional caffeinated miracle! ☕️
Time to rest before we do it all again 🙂

a cartoon of a chicken laying in a bed with a blue blanket

ALT: a cartoon of a chicken laying in a bed with a blue blanket

media.tenor.com

2 3

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Picard Tips @picardtips.bsky.social · Dec 13

Picard management tip: Share the credit. Take the blame.

4 45 180

Dr Stephen Thomson @stephenithomson.bsky.social · Dec 13

Loved attending @exeter.ac.uk's graduation yesterday to cheer for our MSc in Weather and Climate students. Teaching at a University is a great privilidge, and it's wonderful to have the opportunity to celebrate our students' achievements. Well done to all!

Lecturer in graduation gown with graduating students behind him.

1 10

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Simon Lee @simonleewx.com · Dec 4

I've made a starter pack of people who work on the stratosphere/middle atmosphere and/or often post about the stratosphere, including forecasts of the polar vortex.

Please do suggest anyone I've missed – quite hard to keep up with everyone on here now!

go.bsky.app/MxwzdEi

10 26 75

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Denis Sergeev @meteodenny.bsky.social · Nov 20

Exciting PhD opportunity at the cutting edge of weather and climate modelling: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Advancing weather and climate prediction: breaking the convergence barrier , NERC GW4+ DTP PhD studentship for September 2025 Entry Ref: 5386 at University of Exeter on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Advancing weather and climate prediction: breaking the convergence barrier , NERC GW4+ DTP PhD studentship for September 2025 Entry Ref: 5386 at University of Exeter, listed on FindAPhD....

www.findaphd.com

1 3 2

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Nov 19

Jupiter’s Poles: In a new review, Hue+2024 re-project the #JWST NIRCAM 2.12-micron observations of #Jupiter’s north (top) and south (bottom) polar regions (Hueso+2023), showing delicate hazes over each pole, with filaments and waves suggesting a richly dynamic polar hood.

arxiv.org/abs/2410.20413

1 16 46

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Roland Weisleder @rweisleder.de · Nov 18

Spending hours with ChatGPT can save you minutes of reading the documentation.

160 490 6.9K

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Pedram Hassanzadeh @pedramh.bsky.social · Nov 17

Sr Director position (weather forecast) at UChicago's new Human-Centered Weather Forecasting Initiative. Unique opportunity to lead an interdisciplinary team to generate AI- & physics-based forecasts, particularly to support communities most vulnerable to climate variability.

1 7 12

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Simon Lee @simonleewx.com · Nov 15

Come and do a PhD in beautiful St Andrews!

I am looking for a PhD student to work on an Iapetus DTP-funded project, 'Understanding pathways to extreme heat using large ensembles', with co-supervision from @drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social, Chris Taylor and Nick Dunstone.

iapetus2.ac.uk/studentships...

Advert for a PhD project on 'Understanding pathways to extreme heat using large ensembles' with me, Mike Byrne, Chris Taylor and Nick Dunstone, funded by the Iapetus DTP and based at the University of St Andrews.

1 21 46

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

JayIsPainting 🍁 @jayispainting.earthskyart.ca · Oct 31

And my final #sciart pumpkin (also my most viral post ever) Jupiter in IR

A lit pumpkin with the bands & storms of Jupiter

110 1.4K 6.4K

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 6

Hello new Bluesky followers! Back in August, #ESAJuice completed its LEGA (lunar-earth flyby), sending it towards Venus, where it'll pick up speed for its long journey out to Jupiter (arriving in 2031). It was a superb opportunity to test out the sophisticated instrument suite at the Moon and Earth

Timelapse of Juice’s lunar-Earth flyby

YouTube video by European Space Agency, ESA

youtu.be

1 10 35

Reposted by Dr Stephen Thomson

Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 19

Great example of #citizenscience here: using the gorgeous JunoCam observations of Jupiter's diverse vortices (ovals, spots, storms of different colours and sizes), combined with a Zooniverse volunteer project, to extract some #planetaryscience. Nicely done!

Ramanakumar Sankar @rsankar.bsky.social · Sep 19

New paper alert!

Our paper from the Jovian Vortex Hunter citizen science project is out now on PSJ: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3.... We had over 5000 Zooniverse volunteers comb through more than 60000 images from JunoCam to find around 8000 vortices between 2018-2021.

Jovian Vortex Hunter: A Citizen Science Project to Study Jupiter's Vortices - IOPscience

Jovian Vortex Hunter: A Citizen Science Project to Study Jupiter’s Vortices, Ramanakumar Sankar, Shawn Brueshaber, Lucy Fortson, Candice Hansen-Koharcheck, Chris Lintott, Kameswara Mantha, Cooper Nesmith, Glenn S. Orton

iopscience.iop.org

4 12