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Climate change in the UK
• Like the rest of the world, the UK must be
prepared to face a changing climate.
• Climate projections are predictions of how
the climate will change in the future, based on
the latest scientific understanding.
• They can help people to plan how they will
adapt to help society and the natural
environment to cope with climate change.
Energy industry
Construction industry
Water companies
Local councils
Fisheries
Who needs to know now about
the future climate in the UK?
Farmers
Planners of flood and
coastal defences
Tourism industry
Forestry organisations
Populations of coastal zones
and low-lying areas
Atmosphere
Ocean
Factors such asWind
Clouds
Precipitation
Factors such asOcean currents
Water vapour
Heat storage
What parts of the Earth’s climate
are included in a GCM?
Land
Ice
Factors such asSoil moisture
Type of land surface
Winds over landscape
Factors such asSnow
Glaciers
Ice sheets
How does a
GCM work?
•The latest Met Office GCM is
called HadCM3.
•It divides the Earth’s atmosphere
into 19 different layers and the
ocean into 20 different layers.
•It also divides the atmosphere
into 2.5° latitude x 3.75° longitude
grid squares.
•Together, this makes about a million grid points.
•The Met Office uses a very powerful computer, a
supercomputer, to calculate all the movements of heat and
water between grid points. This simulates the Earth’s climate.