People

Dr. Stephen Blenkinsop

Research Interests

The impacts of climatic variability and change on hydrological systems, observational temperature and precipitation series, in particular, changes in extreme temperature events, floods and droughts

Previously worked on the NERC-funded CONVEX project (Using Observational Evidence and Process Understanding to Improve Predictions of Extreme Rainfall Change).  I am principally engaged in the analyis of the spatial and temporal characteristics of rainfall through the examination of hourly gauge data and radar data.  I will later be examining predictors for extreme rainfall events.  These will be used to examine the representation of extreme rainfall processes in regional climate models (RCMs), including a 1.5km resolution RCM being run by the Met Office Hadley Centre as part of the project.  I am also working on EPSRC-funded SWERVE (Severe Weather Events Risk and Vulnerability Estimator) project.  This is assessing the impacts of extreme weather on the SE London area, deriving probabilistic projections for a range of weather-related hazards such as flooding, heatwaves, wind and subsidence.  This has been achieved by using and developing datasets, tools and methodologies which form part of the UKCP09 output.