The UK Government has announced £60 million of investment in the Met Office Hadley Centre’s Climate Programme, aimed at maintaining the UK’s place as a global leader in climate research and modelling. More than £11 million of new high-performance computing (supercomputing capacity and associated hardware) will be provided to underpin this programme of research. This significantly enhances the Met Office Hadley Centre’s capability until 2015 and is a response to the recommendation of the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir John Beddington.
Commenting that supercomputing is fundamental to modern research, especially as it becomes more complex and produces an increasing amount of data, David Willetts, UK Minister for Universities and Science, said: ‘This investment will keep the UK at the forefront of climate science and modelling, underpinned by the leading knowledge and expertise of the Met Office. It also complements the £145 million the Government has invested in e-infrastructure to support industry and academia.’
Nearly £50 million of funding is being committed to a programme of research and modelling until 2015. This investment will significantly enhance the evidence available to Government, supporting both mitigation and adaptation actions and will build upon the Met Office Hadley Centre’s strong collaborations with UK academic science. It will help Government, business, local authorities and other organisations to understand better the threats and opportunities climate change could bring and to take appropriate actions. The planned work will also deliver improved scientific research to support cost-effective deployment of renewable energy.
