James Bassford

Profile

I am a postgraduate researcher at the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science (ICAS), working in the Atmospheric and Cloud Dynamics group. I am researching the interaction between deep convection and larger-scale circulation in the tropics. I am also interested in how these interactions are represented in NWP and GCM models. I will be working with new UKMO high-resolution model data to investigate the effects of explicitly resolving deep convection on scale interactions in regional and pan-tropical domains. 

By better understanding these interactions and by better representing them in models, we will be able to contribute to improving forecasts on multiple scales in the tropics. Convective cloud also plays a large role in the energy balance of the tropical region, and poor representation of convection in models leads to large uncertainty in the response of those clouds to climate change. Reducing this uncertainty can further constrain predictions of future energy budget changes, including temperature and rainfall changes. Quantifying these changes is essential for timely adaptation.

Research interests

• Mesoscale convective systems
• Tropical cyclones
• High-resolution climate modelling
• Large-scale tropical circulation
• Convective self-aggregation and patterns of convective rainfall
• Combinations/interactions of all the above

Qualifications

• BSc Mathematical Studies
• MRes Climate and Atmospheric Science

Research groups and institutes

• Atmospheric and Cloud Dynamics
• Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science