Why did I become a scientist?

This is a question I love to ask other people – I love to find out why they first embarked on their career, or project, or why they chose a specific degree, etc. Some people have a story you can tell they love to talk about, and some people I’ve asked have kind of just

How can we forecast river flow around the globe, months in advance?

My PhD research looks into how we can provide earlier indications of flood hazard at the global scale. One way of doing this is through seasonal forecasts of high (or low) river flow. Seasonal forecasts are designed to provide an early indication that a given variable, such as temperature, rainfall or even river flow, will

Natural Hazards: Hurricanes, Typhoons & Cyclones

Ever wondered what the difference is between a hurricane, a typhoon and a cyclone? If so, you’re not the only one! And I can answer this one pretty quickly for you: there’s no difference at all! Hurricane, typhoon and cyclone are all different names for the same natural hazard: tropical cyclones. In the Atlantic, they’re

What is El Niño? (And can it really impact coffee & chocolate prices?)

You may have seen the infamous El Niño mentioned in the headlines as the cause of floods, droughts, fires, storms, expensive coffee & chocolate etc etc. But if El Niño is the cause of all of these different hazards, what actually is El Niño? Psst! Keep reading to see a fantastic cartoon of El Niño and

10 tips & take-homes from the London SciComm Symposium

On Friday, Louise and I went along to our first London SciComm Symposium, having both been more and more involved in various SciComm events recently. Louise co-organised Reading’s Planet Earth Pint of Science events this year, did a stand-up set at Science Showoff in London and has been doing some fantastic SciArt, while I’ve been

Natural Hazards: Volcanoes

So if you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m in no way a volcanologist… I’m a hydro-meteorologist. But I do have an interest in (read: obsession with) natural hazards of all different varieties, so over time I’m going to be writing a series of posts on various natural hazards. You can read my

Pint of Science 2018 – Flooding: Is it all water under the bridge?

Pint of Science is all about taking science outside of the “lab” (or field, or office!) and bringing researchers into local pubs to present their science to people who wouldn’t normally get to hear about and discuss it. I first heard about Pint of Science last year through twitter and was keen to get involved

#SciComm at EGU 2018

Last month, I attended the European Geosciences Union annual conference in Vienna. I wrote about my experience chairing a session and presenting a PICO on my research in a recent post, but this year, I also attended more science communication events and sessions than I had in previous years – so I wanted to mention some of my #scicomm highlights from this year’s EGU!

Sprites & Elves: Magical creatures or weather phenomena?

Thunderstorms are infamous for their beautiful, if dangerous, light displays and ear-splitting thunder. But did you know that while the thunder and lightning are capturing your attention near the ground, there could be something even more incredible happening way above the storm clouds, on the edge of space?

My experience at EGU 2018: chairing a session & presenting a PICO

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has one of the largest scientific conferences in the world, held every year in Vienna. Last week, 15,075 scientists from 106 different countries made their way to the Austria Center for more than 17,000 talks, posters and PICO presentations over 666 sessions. I’ve previously seen the Austria Centre likened to