Each year, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics offers summer vacation projects. These projects are open to students from any University but candidates must have an existing right to work in the UK.
Students will work with a supervisor in the Department, usually a research fellow or a faculty member (a list of projects offered this year is below), on a self-contained research project. Students are encouraged to take part in the Department’s life, joining researchers for coffee breaks, discussions and seminars.
The projects will typically run for 8 weeks, beginning on or around 1 July. The duration may be adjusted to be shorter or longer, or to accommodate summer travel. The projects are usually full-time but hours can be discussed with your supervisor. Students are paid slightly above the Oxford Living Wage.
Projects for 2023:
The height and power of volcanic explosions (position no longer available)
Department: Physics/AOPP
Supervisor: Professor Don Grainger
The initial injection of material from the eruption of Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha’apia in January 2022 reached ~ 57 km. How did it get this high? The scientific literature contains many papers determining the equilibrium height of an on-going volcanic eruption but is relatively silent on the initial volcanic blast height. Similarly, descriptions of the total energy contained in an eruption are based on the erupted mass and assume that the energy comes from the cooling of the erupting magma. Very little is said on the power of the volcanic blast.
In this project the student will test the hypothesis that the height of a volcanic plume is related to the initial power of the eruption. Initially this involves reviewing relevant papers on volcanic eruptions. Using this knowledge, the student will develop a computer model to predict the height of an eruption given the volcanic power and atmospheric temperature profile. A particular focus will be to see if the model can explain the height reached by the Hunga-Tonga – Hunga Ha’apia explosion. If time permits the model could be tested by estimating the height of clouds formed from atmospheric nuclear testing (where the power of the explosion is known).
Skills required: This project would suit a student with excellent problem-solving abilities who is keen to apply undergraduate physical principles to a geophysical process. Some knowledge of a computer language would be useful to expedite the development of a computer model of the volcanic blast.
Duration of the project: 6-8 weeks
How to apply: To apply, please email r.grainger@physics.ox.ac.uk with a CV, name and contact details for one academic reference, and a short covering letter explaining your interest in the placement. Applications will be first considered on the 24 April 2023 and will be reviewed on an on-going basis until an appointment is made.
Extreme storms in past and future climates: event attribution using medium-range weather forecasts
Department: Physics/AOPP
Supervisor: Dr Antje Weisheimer, Shirin Ermis, Dr Fraser Lott (UK Met Office)
Ever wondered what extreme windstorms in the UK might look like under climate change? The science of event attribution analyses how extreme weather events have changed due to climate change and how they might do so in the future. Recent work from our group hast started to look at mid-latitude storms which are highly localised extreme events and difficult to forecast more than a week in advance. Because of their impacts, it is important to estimate changes to them in the future.
This project would give you the opportunity to work alongside researchers to assess storm characteristics in low and high CO2 scenarios for recent UK storms. We will focus on changes to wind gusts and pressure fields at the start, but the project has the scope to analyse changes in the wider circulation and life cycle of the storms.
You will get to work on an evolving method to analyse extreme events using output from state-of-the-art numerical weather predictions. You will also be able to attend seminars and group meetings on atmospheric physics which will give you an idea of what it is like being a PhD student in the department. The UK Met Office is involved in this project as a partner, planning to ultimately implement this method in their operational forecasts
Skills required: We are looking for an undergraduate student in a mathematical/physical natural science with enthusiasm for atmospheric processes and extreme events. The project will be computational so some programming skills (eg python) are desirable. Previous experience in geospatial data analysis and working in a Linux terminal will be helpful. If you do not meet all these requirements but are excited about the project, please apply!
Duration of the project: 6-8 weeks
How to apply: To apply, please email Antje.Weisheimer@physics.ox.ac.uk with a CV, name and contact details for one academic reference, and a short covering letter explaining your interest in the placement. Applications are invited before 1 May 2023, with interviews planned in the first half of May.
Analysing the skill and usefulness of seasonal forecasts for the energy sector
Department: Physics/AOPP
Supervisor: Dr Beena Sarojini, Matthew Wright, Dr Julia Lockwood (UK Met Office) and Dr Antje Weisheimer
As policies change to try and mitigate climate change, society increasingly relies on renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and solar panels. Seasonal forecasts of the climate are a vital resource to stakeholders in the energy sector. They enable average weather variables, and therefore energy production, to be predicted a season or more in advance. In this project you would be looking at the usefulness of such forecasts for the energy sector, for example to predict wind droughts.
This project will start by assessing the skill in 10m wind speed over the UK in seasonal forecasts over the past decades, using a range of historical weather and climate data. The successful student will analyse large datasets to locate periods in time and regions of the UK that have particularly high/low wind speeds and/or skill and think about the implications of this for the energy sector. They will develop their coding and data analysis skills and learn about how seasonal forecasts are produced, and how they are used by the energy sector. This is a great opportunity to apply skills and knowledge to solving a problem that will contribute to improving weather/climate resources for the energy sector.
The project is particularly timely given that the Met Office has recently added UK wind speed predictions to the seasonal outlook for contingency planners, which forms the basis of bespoke briefings delivered to the energy sector throughout the winter. Research into this area has the potential to be pulled through to these outputs and similar products.
Skills required: Undergraduate student in Physics, Maths, Engineering, Chemistry, Environmental Sciences, or a related subject. Enthusiasm for weather and climate science, and for applying that knowledge to other sectors. Ability to analyse data and present results clearly and concisely. Some experience of programming, ideally using Python (although lots can be learned during the placement, some experience is ideal). Even if you don’t meet all the characteristics but are still interested in the project and think you would be a good fit, please do apply!
Duration of the project: 6-8 weeks
How to apply: To apply, please email Antje.Weisheimer@physics.ox.ac.uk with a CV, name and contact details for one academic reference, and a short covering letter explaining your interest in the placement. Applications are invited before 1 May 2023, with interviews planned in the first half of May.