UKCA Training January 2018

From UKCA

Please see UKCA Training January 2015 for details of the Workshop run in January 2015.
Please see UKCA Training January 2016 for details of the Workshop run in January 2016.
Please see UKCA Training January 2017 for details of the Workshop run in January 2017.

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NERC have provided funds to run a UKCA training course, which will take place on the 8th-12th January 2018 at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge.

Please note that this course has been funded by NERC and therefore NERC funded PhD students and early career researchers will be prioritised when awarding funded places on this course. Once places have been awarded to NERC students and researchers any remaining places will be allocated to other applicants.

This course introduces new users to the UKCA systems and provides practical experience of setting up and running experiments. Users will be led through a series of exercises designed to encourage best practice and scientific exploitation of the ESM.

What is UKCA?

UKCA is a community chemistry-aerosol-climate model based around the Met Office Unified Model (UM), and is developed jointly by the Met Office and the Universities of Cambridge, Leeds, and Oxford. UKCA will be the atmospheric composition module of the joint NERC-Met Office Earth System Model UKESM1 and is used by the Met Office to provide operational 5-day air quality forecasts for the U.K.

Aims of the Workshop

The UKCA Theory and Practice Workshop will take place in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge designed to give users a good understanding of the theory behind the UKCA code, such as aerosol microphysics, dry and wet deposition, and the chemical mechanisms used, as well as teaching how to use the model via Rose/Cylc. The course will help you become familiar with using the various aspects of the UM that relate directly to UKCA.

After attending this course, you will be proficient with the main components of the UKCA model, and be confident in adapting it for your own purposes.

Aspects of the model that will be covered include:

  • Adding new species and reactions
  • Changing and adding emissions
  • Managing output
  • Adding new diagnostics

Prerequisites

You should have some experience in using the UM and the FCM system that is used to manage the model’s code base. If you do not have any UM or FCM experience you should ideally attend the UM training course organised by NCAS-CMS.

How to Apply

There are 20 fully funded places available, with priority given to NERC-funded students and PDRAs, although applications are welcome from any researchers interested in using the UKCA model. Accommodation and reasonable travel expenses will be provided. For more information, please contact Luke Abraham.

To apply please complete this form

Applications will close 3rd November 2017.

Registration

Registration is in the West Foyer of the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge. This is the main entrance to the Department, and can be accessed via the main car park from the Lensfield Road entrance.

Registration opens at 9am on the 8th January 2018, and closes at 9.45am.

Schedule

All talks will take place in the Pfizer Lecture Theatre (PLT) in the Department of Chemistry which is on the left as you enter the West Foyer (main entrance) on the North side of the building. Practicals will take place in the G30 computer room, which is on the north side of the Department on the ground floor, just off from the West Foyer.

The tea/coffee breaks, lunch, and posters, will all be in the BMS Lecture Theatre, which is accessible through the bottom of the Pfizer.

The schedule is:

Time Monday 8th January Tuesday 9th January Wednesday 10th January Thursday 11th January Friday 12th January
9am Registration Tracer Transport
Nigel Wood
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video
Earth-System Modelling
Fiona O'Connor
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video
Wet Scavenging
Colin Johnson
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video
9.30am
Model Evaluation
Alex Archibald
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video
9.45 Welcome
Luke Abraham
Break Break Break
10am Emissions
Marcus Koehler
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video
Chemical Solvers
Oliver Wild
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video
Dry Deposition
Gerd Folberth
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video
Heterogeneous Chemistry
Paul Griffiths
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video
10.45 Tea/Coffee Tea/Coffee Tea/Coffee Tea/Coffee 11am Tea/Coffee
11.15 GLOMAP-mode
Kirsty Pringle
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video
RADAER
Nicolas Bellouin
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video
Photolysis
Apostolos Voulgarakis
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video
Aerosol-Cloud Interactions
Michael Herzog
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video
11.30am
Group Photo in Todd-Hamied meeting room
12noon Lunch & Posters Lunch & Posters Lunch & Posters Lunch & Posters Lunch
1pm Practicals Practicals Practicals Practicals Practicals
2pm
3pm Tea/Coffee Tea/Coffee Tea/Coffee Tea/Coffee Tea/Coffee
3.30 Practicals Practicals Practicals Practicals Close
4pm
5pm
5.30pm Close Close Close Close
5.30-7.00pm Dinner in Homerton Dinner in Homerton Dinner in Homerton 6.30pm onwards
Workshop Drinks reception and Dinner

All videos have been uploaded to the University of Cambridge Streaming Service.

Met Office Science Repository Service

To run UKCA at UM version 10.0 and above, you will need an account on the Met Office Science Repository Service. This site states

To register for an account, Met Office staff should contact Scientific_Partnerships@metoffice.gov.uk. 
Other users should contact their local institutional sponsor. If in doubt, please contact
Scientific_Partnerships@metoffice.gov.uk for advice stating your affiliate institution
and your reason for wanting access.

UK-based researchers who are NERC-funded (or whose PI is eligible for NERC funding) will probably be able to request an account via NCAS-CMS.

Practicals

The practical element of the course will follow the UKCA Chemistry and Aerosol Tutorials at vn10.9 available on this wiki. Before you go through these you will need to have done some prerequisites.

Note that for the practical element of the course training accounts (rather than personal accounts) will be used on ARCHER. A personal PUMA account is still required.

Please see the page here on how to log in and set up your accounts on the Cambridge workstations and ARCHER.

Accommodation, Breakfast, and Evening Meals

Accommodation, breakfast, and evening meals will be in Homerton College, Cambridge. Maps giving directions from Cambridge Station to the College, from the College to the Department of Chemistry, and from the Department to the Station are below. It is a short walk between all three locations.

Check-in is available from 2pm, and keys should be collected from the Porter's Lodge (see map below).

Evening meals are served in the Macaulay Room, which is located just to the side of the Bar Buttery area, from 5.30pm-7pm on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Please ask a member of staff in the bar area if you are having difficulty finding the room.

On Thursday there will be pre-dinner drinks in the Combination Room followed by dinner at 7.30pm in the Drawing Room.

Attendees arriving on Sunday will need to go elsewhere for dinner and then claim this back (up to the value of £20) along with their travel expenses.

All attendees will need to provide information about which nights accommodation they require to be arranged for them, between the Sunday evening to the Friday morning inclusive. Guest speakers will have had their night's accommodation arranged for them as per their requirements.

Please note that only single accommodation is available in Homerton College.

Lunches

Lunches will be provided in the Department of Chemistry.

Travel

It is probably easiest to travel by train, as both the Department of Chemistry and Homerton College are close to the railway station. Please pay for your tickets in advance, and then claim forms will be provided when you arrive. If your ticket will be over £120 please inform Luke Abraham.

Please inform me as soon as possible if you will be coming by car. You should also note that for this mode of transport, the amount that can be reimbursed is capped at the cost of an off-peak or super off-peak (where applicable) standard class train ticket, or 45p/mile, whichever is lower. In almost all cases, the rail cost is significantly lower.

Photography & Recording

Photographs may be taken during the talks for use on the UKCA website, the Departmental magazine Chem@Cam, or for other promotional purposes. All lectures will be recorded. If you do not wish to be photographed or recorded, please inform Luke Abraham.

Feedback

It is important to get attendee feedback, as this will help with the development of the course in the future. You will be asked to fill-in a feedback form once the course has finished.

Maps