Best research output for the Faculty of Science: Dr Jonny Day
Thursday, 13 June 2013
Dr Jonny Day from the Department of Meteorology
Dr Jonny Day from the Department of Meteorology in the School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences was recently awarded the Research Endowment Trust Fund Prize for best research output for the Faculty of Science. He was awarded this for his research paper "Sources of multi-decadal variability in Arctic sea ice extent ".
Dr Day is a climatologist specialising in climate-cryosphere interactions, particularly in the rapidly changing Arctic. The cryosphere is a term used to describe areas of the Earth's surface where water is found in solid form (such as sea ice in the Arctic). Sea ice plays a crucial role in global and regional projections of climate change.
The research paper considers the possible causes of the significant decreases in Arctic sea ice extent. By comparing the outputs of five general circulation models with satellite observations of sea ice extent, the paper considered whether periodic variations in sea surface temperature and sea level pressure have significantly affected the amount of sea ice.
Significantly, Dr Day has shown that such variations were only a small part of the trend, and further concluded that the majority of observed trends are likely to be caused by human activities.
Every year, the University's Research Endowment Trust Fund awards prizes for the best research outputs and to recognise outstanding research. The prizes are awarded to acknowledge the continuing importance of high quality research to the University. Competitions are run at faculty level, with nominees generated via competitions within schools and departments. This year, each faculty winner received £1,000.
Read an interview with Dr Day in Research Review online
Dr Day's research was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters [Day J.J., Hargreaves J.C., Annan J.D., Abe-Ouchi A. 2012. Sources of multi-decadal variability in Arctic sea ice extent. Environ. Res. Lett. 7