The National Centre for Atmospheric Science is overhauling how the UK predicts, measures, and responds to changes in the air we breathe, from street-level pollution to century-scale climate shifts. This matters because the UK’s ability to hit Net Zero, protect people from poor air quality, and prepare for extreme weather depends on models and data that are currently too slow, too coarse, or too hard for non-specialists to use. The centre’s six work packages tackle these gaps directly: advancing high-resolution climate models that capture small-scale processes like thunderstorms, building the first activity-based indoor air emission inventory, and creating a new machine learning unit to improve forecasts of heatwaves, floods, and pollution exposure. If successful, the research will sharpen the evidence that government and industry rely on for decisions about sustainable fuels, building ventilation, and emergency response. It also commits to open data and training for early-career scientists, which should widen access to atmospheric science beyond a small expert community. The work is a mix of fundamental science—measuring basic chemical reactions in the atmosphere—and applied tools, but its core aim is to turn raw observations into usable predictions for a rapidly changing planet.
View original technical description
The National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) is a world-leading research centre funded by NERC. We are an independent organisation providing trusted and transparent data, tools and advice, and supporting the UK atmospheric science community with both infrastructure and cutting-edge research. Our mission is to understand our atmosphere, how it is changing, and how it impacts life on Earth. We will achieve this by pushing the frontiers of atmospheric science, and contributing to a healthy, resilient and productive global environment for the benefit of all. NCAS science is structured into three themes: Air Pollution, Climate and High Impact Weather, and Long-Term Global Change. Our National Capability Single Centre Science proposal outlines the evolution of our underpinning activities, enabling and supporting the UK atmospheric community to answer the challenges of the future. These include achieving Net Zero sustainably, mitigating and adapting to climate change, reducing the human and environmental health burden of indoor and outdoor air pollution, tracking progress on beneficial environmental change and identifying emerging environmental threats. Our proposal is split into 6 science work packages. In WP1 we will advance the development of novel atmosphere-coupled numerical models to improve our ability to predict the Earth's climate system on time scales from days to centuries. By moving to high resolution within these simulations, we can better understand the impact of small scale processes such as convective systems on larger scale atmospheric circulation. We will develop new computational tools to support the use of these models, including next generation modelling systems that are being developed alongside the UK Met Office. In WP2, we will improve access to NCAS atmospheric data and coordinate our climate activities across the UK and International environmental community. A key component of our proposal is a commitment to open data, allowing it to be exploited widely. We will also ensure our data is accessible and will develop ways to reduce the level of expert knowledge needed to use our data. We will create a new activity within NCAS on machine learning and artificial intelligence, taking advantage of this rapidly evolving field. In particular, we will concentrate on methods to improve our climate simulations, forecast and understand the impacts of extreme weather events and predict the exposure of humans to poor air quality. In WP3, we will continue to support our long term measurements programme, including observations at the Cabo Verde Atmospheric Observatory, the BT Tower Atmospheric Observatory and the Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory. In WP4, we will measure fundamental chemical reactions and physical processes in the atmosphere, allowing us to reduce current uncertainties in atmospheric composition models. We will build an integrated composition modelling toolkit, bringing together models that can simulate gas and particle chemistry both indoors and outdoors. We will also produce the first activity based indoor air emission inventory. In WP5, we will provide leadership in the training of atmospheric and early career scientists. In WP6, we will use our unique capabilities and experienced leadership in atmospheric science research, to provide evidence to a range of partners, including government and industry, on topics such as air quality, climate, hazardous weather, sustainable fuel emissions and pollutant dispersion. We will also respond to national emergencies when our capabilities are needed. NCAS will embed responsible research and sustainability practices within our science program, directly addressing Net Zero targets. We have a strong commitment to our EDI journey to create a working environment where staff can bring their whole self to the workplace, implemented through our Living Action Plan. We aim to strengthen our science and services through increased diversity.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know