CRESCENDO scientists support UKESM exhibit at the 2019 Blue Dot Music and Science Festival

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To increase the public understanding around the science of climate and Earth system change, the NERC/Met Office funded UKESM project, along with UK scientists from the EU-funded CRESCENDO project, participated in the recent Blue Dot Music and Science Festival, held at Jodrell Bank Observatory, July 18 to 21 2019. (https://www.discoverthebluedot.com/home).

The festival attracted tens of thousands of visitors and our stand, entitled ‘UKESM: A Model Earth’ consisted of a brilliant display, with puzzles, an interactive quiz and climate oriented games suitable for children and families. In addition, the primary attraction at the stand was the interactive Pufferfish globe, on which we displayed six videos illustrating different aspects of the coupled Earth system and future Earth system change. Among the videos shown, visitors had the opportunity to explore latest simulation results from the 1st version of the UK Earth system model (UKESM1), released to UK researchers last February 2019 (for more information visit https://ukesm.ac.uk/project-outcomes/model-releases/).

Prof Colin Jones discusses with festival visitors several Pufferfish visualizations shown at the festival.
University of Leeds, Head of UKESM and CRESCENDO projects, Prof Colin Jones discusses with festival visitors several Pufferfish visualizations shown at the festival. The Pufferfish visualization at the top shows future changes in Arctic sea ice, marine chlorophyll and land biological productivity simulated by UKESM1 following two different future Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP). The Western Hemisphere of the globe shows the low-warming, ‘Paris Agreement’ scenario (ssp1-1.9) while the Eastern Hemisphere shows the high-warming, ‘business as usual’ scenario (ssp5-8.5).
NCAS scientist and UKESM core group member Dr Robin Smith
NCAS scientist and UKESM core group member Dr Robin Smith
NCEO scientist and UKESM core group member Dr Ranjini Swaminathan (left) and University of Leeds CRESCENDO project member Dr Cat Scott
NCEO scientist and UKESM core group member Dr Ranjini Swaminathan (left) and University of Leeds CRESCENDO project member Dr Cat Scott