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Study atmospheric science fieldwork

Dates: 12-24 May 2024
Location: Blencathra Field Studies Council Centre, Cumbria

The Atmospheric Measurement & Modelling Summer School provides the key skills required for practical fieldwork with guidance from leading researchers. We also help you to appreciate the linkages between modelling and observations in a digital ecosystem.

Atmospheric science can only deliver and address the pressing issues through the implementation of such an ecosystem. This means training and developing the next generation scientists around this idea.

In the beautiful Lake District, we will provide students with a fast-paced and friendly fieldwork experience. You will work in a team to investigate a big science question through design and execution of field experiments.

You will gain confidence, experience, and in-depth knowledge of how real fieldwork takes place and learn how to use models and observations to test hypotheses that improve our understanding of the world and allow us to make better forecasts.

Take note, the Atmospheric Measurement & Modelling Summer School isn’t just for practical scientists. Anyone who works with observational data will benefit from a better understanding of how data is collected.

We encourage applications from PhD students, early career researchers, and researchers who are new to fieldwork.

How to apply

Registration for the 2024 courses will open in September 2023.

Subscribe to our Reach for the Skies mailing list to be kept in the loop about upcoming courses.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be able to:

  1. Explain the process of obtaining atmospheric measurements and drawing from
    those scientific conclusions using advanced modelling and data analysis techniques
  2. Describe the scientific and technical limits to agreement between observations and models
  3. Demonstrate how observations can be used to constrain atmospheric computational models

Teaching staff

The Atmospheric Measurement & Modelling Summer School is taught by researchers with experience in field campaigns across the globe, from Borneo to Cape Verde, and using models to forecast the impact of volcanic eruptions.

Our teaching staff will be confirmed by September 2023.

Course schedule

The Atmospheric Measurement & Modelling Summer School runs a fast-paced and full-on programme. We run activities from 08:30 to 20:00 on most days, but there is scheduled free time so you can unwind and adjust to the fieldwork experience. We often start the day with short lectures, but most of the time you’ll be carrying out hands-on measurements and working in remote locations around the local area.

Costs

There is a charge to attend the Atmospheric Measurement & Modelling Summer School. Once you have been offered a place on this course, you will be asked to pay the course fees via the University of Leeds online store. The course fee includes all tuition, activities and materials, and accommodation in shared rooms at the field centre and all meals.

Full academic rate: to be confirmed
Educational discount rate: to be confirmed

The discounted rate may be available to students and post-doctoral researchers who are not eligible for the for the subsidised rate.

NCAS Subsidised rate: to be confirmed

This is available for UK and EU students attending UK universities or students supervised by National Centre for Atmospheric Science staff members.

Travel and accommodation

Accomodation

Accommodation is provided at the Blencathra Field Studies Council Centre, in shared rooms.

Travel

Attendees are responsible for arranging and paying for their own transport to and from Penrith train station.

All students are expected to attend all aspects of the Atmospheric Field Measurement & Modelling Summer School.

Terms and conditions

Fees

Attendees are required to pay in full by credit/debit card or provide a valid purchase order from their home organisation by the confirmation deadline. All payments and refunds are processed by the University of Leeds.

Cancellations/ refunds

Attendee cancellations are subject to a £50 administration fee, plus any accommodation cancellation costs incurred by us, where the cancellation is made more than six weeks (twelve weeks for the Atmospheric Measurement Summer School) before the date of the training course. The remaining balance of the course fee will be refunded.

No refund is payable for a cancellation made within six weeks (twelve weeks for the Atmospheric Measurement Summer School) immediately prior to the training course – in this event the full course fee will remain payable. In the event that a place can be filled by another student then the full fee (less the £50 administration fee) will be refunded once the replacement student has paid in full.

All cancellations must be sent in writing to training@ncas.ac.uk.

Amendments and cancellations

It may be necessary for us to change the content and timing of a course, the staff, the date or the venue. In the unlikely event of the course being cancelled, we will provide a full refund. For all bookings, the liability of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science/University of Leeds shall be limited to the amount of the fee paid to the National Centre for Atmospheric Science/University of Leeds by the delegate.