First RAPID Annual Science meeting

6th - 8th September 2004
University of Nottingham

The First RAPID Annual Science Meeting of the Rapid Climate Change programme (RAPID) was held on 6th - 8th September 2004 at the University of Nottingham. The focus of the meeting was on RAPID science and on how to achieve the RAPID Science objectives.

The meeting consisted of a mixture of focused talks and discussion sessions, a number of project progress reports and two poster sessions. Three key topics for RAPID were the basis of dedicated "introductory master classes" followed by discussion sessions. The objective was to highlight some central issues for RAPID and help promote cross-disciplinary debate.

Details of the meeting are given below, including links to download the presentations given at the meeting, and the rapporteurs' reports on the discussion sessions. All files are PDF compatible with Acrobat v.5.0 or later. Early problems with downloading these files should now be resolved.

We are currently collating all posters and student posters presented at the meeting, and we are aiming to make them available on this site as soon as possible through the links below.

• Agenda & Presentations
• Monday 6th Sept 2004
• Tuesday 7th Sept 2004
• Wednesday 8th Sept 2004

Agenda and Presentations

Monday 6th September 2004

13.30	Arrival, registration and tea/coffee
14.30	Welcome and Introduction	Meric Srokosz
14:55	RAPID data management (PDF; 1Mb)	Juan Brown (BODC)
15.10	Session 1: The 8.2 kyear event An observational perspective (PDF; 1.4Mb) A modelling perspective (PDF; 1.5Mb)	Chair: John Lowe (RHUL) Jonathan Holmes (UCL) Paul Valdes (Bristol)
16:10	Discussion Chair: John Lowe (RHUL) Rapporteur: A Street-Perrott (Swansea)	Rapporteur's report (PDF; 48Kb)
16:40	The role of the cryosphere in modulating the thermohaline circulation of the Atlantic (PDF; 1.8Mb)	Jonathan Bamber (Bristol)
16:55	Dense water formation in Arctic shelf seas	Ian Walkington (Keele)
20:00	Conference dinner



Tuesday 7th September 2004

09:00	Session 2: How probable is rapid climate change? A modelling perspective (PDF; 600Kb) A statistical perspective (PDF; 84Kb)	Chair: Peter Challenor (SOC) Mat Collins (Hadley Centre) Jonathan Rougier (Durham)
10:00	Discussion Chair: Peter Challenor (SOC) Rapporteur: David Stevens (UEA)	Rapporteur's report (PDF; 31Kb)
10.30	Coffee
11:00	Monitoring the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5°N: Changes in Water Mass Properties Over 50 Years (PDF; 2.3Mb)	Stuart Cunningham (SOC)
11:25	Estimates of the Florida Current, Ekman and Sverdrup transport at 26°N (PDF; 600Kb)	Louise Duncan (SOC)
11:50	Students introduce their posters: 1 minute each
12:30	Lunch
14:00	Main poster session / Student poster session
15:30	Tea

16:00	Chair: Christine Gommenginger (SOC/RAPID Science Coordination Team)
16:00	The Role of Air-Sea Fluxes in Causing Rapid Changes in the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation (PDF; 1.3Mb)	Jeremy Grist/Simon Josey (SOC)
16:25	North Atlantic atmospheric and oceanic circulation of the last few centuries (PDF; 800Kb)	Gerard van der Schier (UEA)
16:50	Improving our ability to predict rapid changes in the El Niņo Southern Oscillation climatic phenomenon (PDF; 2.1Mb)	Jo Brown (Reading)
19:00	Dinner
20:30	Best student poster prize award



Wednesday 8th September 2004

09:00	Session 3: Designing an MOC observing system A modelling perspective (PDF; 1.5Mb) An observational perspective (PDF; 1Mb)	Chair: Andy Watson (UEA) Richard Wood (Hadley Centre) Harry Bryden (SOC)
10:00	Discussion Chair: Andy Watson (UEA) Rapporteur: Neil Wells (SOC)	Rapporteur's report (PDF; 85Kb)
10.30	Coffee
11:00	Atlantic Seaboard Climatic Reconstruction Including Bounding Errors: progress report to RAPID programme (PDF; 2.7Mb)	Ian Fairchild (Birmingham)
11:25	High-resolution analysis of the 8.2 kyr event from the Greenland Ice Core Project ice core (PDF; 900Kb)	Elisabeth Thomas (BAS)
11:50	Cape Farewell and Eirik Ridge: interannual to millennial thermohaline circulation variability (PDF; 1.3Mb)	Sheldon Bacon (SOC)
12:15	Rapporteurs report back (10 minutes each)	Session 1 (8.2 kyr event) report (PDF; 48Kb) Session 2 (Probability) report (PDF; 31Kb) Session 3 (MOC monitoring) report (PDF; 85Kb)
12:45	Where next ?	Meric Srokosz
13:00	Lunch
14:00	Meeting closes