Monday, 14 Dec 2015 Dr Joel Hirschi, of the National Oceanography
Centre, Southampton.
Ocean Currents and their impact on weather and climate.
I will illustrate how the ocean impacts our weather and climate with a
main emphasis on the Atlantic ocean
and the UK/Europe. The North Atlantic ocean has a profound effect on the
climate of Europe and beyond. In addition to
moderating seasonal winter and summer extreme temperatures in Europe (in
the same way as the North Pacific
moderates climate in Western North America) the Atlantic is
characterised by a strong northward
transport of heat in the order of 1 PW (10^15W) which is linked to the
meridional overturning circulation (MOC).
This northward heat transport helps to maintain temperatures in Western
Europe which are higher
than their counterparts at similar latitudes in Western North America. I
will illustrate how we can simulate the ocean
using computer models and how our ability to realistically simulate
currents has improved in recent years.
I will also discuss examples of weather events - such as the extremely
cold December of 2010, which was the coldest
December for more than 100 years in the UK - where we think the ocean
played a central role. Recent results
also suggest that anomalies in the ocean circulation (in particular for
the MOC) can lead the development of
anomalous sea surface temperatures (SSTs) by several months to several
years. This suggests that the ocean
circulation can be used as a predictor for SSTs and of the weather
conditions associated with these SST anomalies.

venue: Southwestern Arms (upstairs room) , 36 Adelaide Rd, St Denys,
Southampton, SO17 2HW
Time: 19:00 for talk 19:30 to 21:00. Plenty of time for questions and
answers .
Entry by a purchase at the bar or by donation in the tin, for the venue
facilities.

future talks
Monday, 18 Jan 2016 , (NB third monday of the month) TBC date and
speaker , provisionally topic of sound and vibration
Monday 08 Feb 2016, Dr Julian Whitewright , Southampton Uni:
Intro to ship archaeology, metallurgical analysis of copper/brass
material for dating, dendrochronology, conservation etc
Monday, 14 Mar 2016, Prof Jacek Brodzki , Soton Uni, Measuring the
World: from Pythagoras to Big Data.
Explaining in a series of examples how geometry is indispensable to our
understanding of the world. The examples would range from practical and
physical to more complex recent Big Data applications.
Monday, 11 Apr 2016, TBA
Monday, 09 May 2016, Jonathan Ridley , Solent University: Yacht Design
Monday 13 June 2016 Dr Matthew Mowlem, NOC, Laboratory on a Chip

Monthly talks on a science subject
Future talks, usually the second Monday of the month.
http://www.diverse.ip3.co.uk/scicaf.htm