Myles Allen

Last updated

Myles Allen

Born
Myles Robert Allen

(1965-08-11) 11 August 1965 (age 58) [1]
Farnham, Surrey, England
Education British School in the Netherlands [1]
Alma mater University of Oxford (DPhil)
Known for Climateprediction.net
Spouse
(m. 1994)
[1]
Awards Edward Appleton Medal and Prize (2010)
Scientific career
Fields Climate change
Institutions United Nations Environment Programme
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Oxford
Thesis Interactions between the atmosphere and oceans on time scales of weeks to years  (1992)
Website www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/people/myles-allen OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Myles Robert Allen CBE FRS FInstP (born 11 August 1965) [1] is an English climate scientist. He is Professor of Geosystem Science in the University of Oxford's School of Geography and the Environment, and head of the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Department. [2] [3]

Contents

Education

Allen was educated at the British School in the Netherlands [1] and the University of Oxford where he was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Physics and Philosophy in 1987 [1] followed by a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1992. [4] He was a student of St. John's College, Oxford. [1]

Career

As well as his position as Professor of Geosystem science at Oxford, he is the Principal Investigator of the distributed computing project Climateprediction.net (which makes use of computing resources provided voluntarily by the general public), and was principally responsible for starting this project. [5] [6] He is the Director of the Oxford Net Zero initiative [7] and a Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. [8]

Allen has worked at the Energy Unit of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [2] He contributed to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a Lead Author of the Chapter on detection of change and attribution of causes, [9] and was a Review Editor for the chapter on predictions of global climate change for the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and a co-author of the IPCC October 8, 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C. [10] [11] His research [12] focuses on the attribution of recent climate change and assessing what these changes mean for global climate simulations of the future. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

Allen also provided the technical expertise for the game Fate of the World, which is "a PC strategy game that simulates the real social and environmental impact of global climate change over the next 200 years". [18] In 2015, he mentioned that carbon capture and storage (CCS) should be made mandatory. [19]

Awards and honours

In 2010, Allen was awarded the Edward Appleton Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics for "his important contributions to the detection and attribution of human influence on climate and quantifying uncertainty in climate predictions". [20] Allen was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to climate change attribution and prediction and net-zero. [21] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2023. [22]

Personal life

Allen married Irene Tracey in 1994 and has three children. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global warming potential</span> Potential heat absorbed by a greenhouse gas

Global warming potential (GWP) is an index to measure of how much infrared thermal radiation a greenhouse gas would absorb over a given time frame after it has been added to the atmosphere. The GWP makes different greenhouse gases comparable with regards to their "effectiveness in causing radiative forcing". It is expressed as a multiple of the radiation that would be absorbed by the same mass of added carbon dioxide, which is taken as a reference gas. Therefore, the GWP is one for CO2. For other gases it depends on how strongly the gas absorbs infrared thermal radiation, how quickly the gas leaves the atmosphere, and the time frame being considered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloud feedback</span> Type of climate change feedback mechanism

Cloud feedback is a type of climate change feedback that has been difficult to quantify in contemporary climate models. It can affect the magnitude of internally generated climate variability or they can affect the magnitude of climate change resulting from external radiative forcings. Cloud representations vary among global climate models, and small changes in cloud cover have a large impact on the climate.

Keith Peter Shine FRS is the Regius Professor of Meteorology and Climate Science at the University of Reading. He is the first holder of this post, which was awarded to the university by Queen Elizabeth II to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temperature record of the last 2,000 years</span> Temperature trends in the Common Era

The temperature record of the last 2,000 years is reconstructed using data from climate proxy records in conjunction with the modern instrumental temperature record which only covers the last 170 years at a global scale. Large-scale reconstructions covering part or all of the 1st millennium and 2nd millennium have shown that recent temperatures are exceptional: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 concluded that "Average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the 20th century were very likely higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years and likely the highest in at least the past 1,300 years." The curve shown in graphs of these reconstructions is widely known as the hockey stick graph because of the sharp increase in temperatures during the last century. As of 2010 this broad pattern was supported by more than two dozen reconstructions, using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records, with variations in how flat the pre-20th-century "shaft" appears. Sparseness of proxy records results in considerable uncertainty for earlier periods.

climateprediction.net BOINC based volunteer computing project researching climate models

climateprediction.net (CPDN) is a volunteer computing project to investigate and reduce uncertainties in climate modelling. It aims to do this by running hundreds of thousands of different models using the donated idle time of ordinary personal computers, thereby leading to a better understanding of how models are affected by small changes in the many parameters known to influence the global climate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IPCC Third Assessment Report</span> Assessment of available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change by the IPCC

The IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR), Climate Change 2001, is an assessment of available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change by the IPCC. Statements of the IPCC or information from the TAR were often used as a reference showing a scientific consensus on the subject of global warming. The Third Assessment Report (TAR) was completed in 2001 and consists of four reports, three of them from its Working Groups: Working Group I: The Scientific Basis; Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability; Working Group III: Mitigation; Synthesis Report. A number of the TAR's conclusions are given quantitative estimates of how probable it is that they are correct, e.g., greater than 66% probability of being correct. These are "Bayesian" probabilities, which are based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IPCC Second Assessment Report</span>

The Second Assessment Report (SAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in 1995, is an assessment of the then available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change. The report was split into four parts: a synthesis to help interpret UNFCCC article 2, The Science of Climate Change, Impacts, Adaptations and Mitigation of Climate Change, Economic and Social Dimensions of Climate Change. Each of the last three parts was completed by a separate Working Group (WG), and each has a Summary for Policymakers (SPM) that represents a consensus of national representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan M. Gregory</span>

Jonathan Michael Gregory is a climate modeller working on mechanisms of global and large-scale change in climate and sea level on multidecadal and longer timescales at the Met Office and the University of Reading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate sensitivity</span> Change in Earths temperature caused by changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations

Climate sensitivity is a measure of how much Earth's surface will warm for a doubling in the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. In technical terms, climate sensitivity is the average change in global mean surface temperature in response to a radiative forcing, which drives a difference between Earth's incoming and outgoing energy. Climate sensitivity is a key measure in climate science, and a focus area for climate scientists, who want to understand the ultimate consequences of anthropogenic global warming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Effects of climate change</span>

Climate change affects the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. Changes in the climate system include an overall warming trend, more extreme weather and rising sea levels. These in turn impact nature and wildlife, as well as human settlements and societies. The effects of human-caused climate change are broad and far-reaching. This is especially so if there is no significant climate action. Experts sometimes describe the projected and observed negative impacts of climate change as the climate crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic analysis of climate change</span>

The economic analysis of climate change explains how economic thinking, tools and techniques are applied to calculate the magnitude and distribution of damage caused by climate change. It also informs the policies and approaches for mitigation and adaptation to climate change from global to household scales. This topic is also inclusive of alternative economic approaches, including ecological economics and degrowth. In a cost–benefit analysis, the trade offs between climate change impacts, adaptation, and mitigation are made explicit. Cost–benefit analyses of climate change are produced using integrated assessment models (IAMs), which incorporate aspects of the natural, social, and economic sciences. The total economic impacts from climate change are difficult to estimate, but increase for higher temperature changes.

Michael Oppenheimer is the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the Department of Geosciences, and the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University. He is the director of the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE) at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and Faculty Associate of the Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences Program and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.

Peter A. Stott MBE is a climate scientist who leads the Climate Monitoring and Attribution team of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research at the Met Office in Exeter, UK. He is an expert on anthropogenic and natural causes of climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate change feedbacks</span> Feedback related to climate change

Climate change feedbacks are effects of global warming that amplify or diminish the effect of forces that initially cause the warming. Positive feedbacks enhance global warming while negative feedbacks weaken it. Feedbacks are important in the understanding of climate change because they play an important part in determining the sensitivity of the climate to warming forces. Climate forcings and feedbacks together determine how much and how fast the climate changes. Large positive feedbacks can lead to tipping points—abrupt or irreversible changes in the climate system—depending upon the rate and magnitude of the climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriele Hegerl</span> German climatologist (born 1962)

Gabriele Clarissa Hegerl is a German climatologist. She is a professor of climate system science at the University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences. Prior to 2007 she held research positions at Texas A&M University and at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, during which time she was a co-ordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth and Fifth Assessment Report.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon budget</span> Limit on carbon dioxide emission for a given climate impact

A carbon budget is a concept used in climate policy to help set emissions reduction targets in a fair and effective way. It looks at "the maximum amount of cumulative net global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions that would result in limiting global warming to a given level". When expressed relative to the pre-industrial period it is referred to as the total carbon budget, and when expressed from a recent specified date it is referred to as the remaining carbon budget.

The transient climate response to cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide (TCRE) is the ratio of the globally averaged surface temperature change per unit carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine heatwave</span> Unusually warm temperature event in the ocean

A marine heatwave is a period of abnormally high ocean temperatures relative to the average seasonal temperature in a particular marine region. Marine heatwaves are caused by a variety of factors, including shorter term weather phenomena such as fronts, intraseasonal events, annual, or decadal (10-year) modes like El Niño events, and longer term changes like climate change. Marine heatwaves can have biological impacts on ecosystems at individual, population, and community levels. MHWs have led to severe biodiversity changes such as coral bleaching, sea star wasting disease, harmful algal blooms, and mass mortality of benthic communities. Unlike heatwaves on land, marine heatwaves can extend for millions of square kilometers, persist for weeks to months or even years, and occur at subsurface levels.

Joyce Penner is an atmospheric scientist known for her research on climate change, especially on the impact of aerosols and clouds.

Joeri Rogelj is a Belgian climate scientist working on solutions to climate change. He explores how societies can transform towards sustainable futures. He is a Professor in Climate Science and Policy at the Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP) and Director of Research at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment, both at Imperial College London. He is also affiliated with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He is an author of several climate reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board for Climate Change.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Anon (2023). "Allen, Prof. Myles Robert" . Who's Who (online Oxford University Press  ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U254480.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 "Dr Myles Allen - University of Oxford". Archived from the original on 30 December 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2010. Myles Allen profile at the University of Oxford
  3. The Guardian articles by Allen: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change must keep its eye on the ball; Generals must give us their exit strategy for climate change
  4. Allen, Myles Robert (1992). Interactions between the atmosphere and oceans on time scales of weeks to years. ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC   61666921. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.335863.
  5. Stainforth, D. A.; Aina, T.; Christensen, C.; Collins, M.; Faull, N.; Frame, D. J.; Kettleborough, J. A.; Knight, S.; Martin, A.; Murphy, J. M.; Piani, C.; Sexton, D.; Smith, L. A.; Spicer, R. A.; Thorpe, A. J.; Allen, M. R. (2005). "Uncertainty in predictions of the climate response to rising levels of greenhouse gases" (PDF). Nature. 433 (7024): 403–406. Bibcode:2005Natur.433..403S. doi:10.1038/nature03301. PMID   15674288. S2CID   2547937. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 September 2005.
  6. Piani, C.; Frame, D. J.; Stainforth, D. A.; Allen, M. R. (2005). "Constraints on climate change from a multi-thousand member ensemble of simulations" (PDF). Geophysical Research Letters. 32 (23): L23825. Bibcode:2005GeoRL..3223825P. doi:10.1029/2005GL024452. S2CID   56227360. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2012.
  7. "Home". Net Zero Climate. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  8. "Professor Myles Allen". School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  9. Mitchell, J.F.B.; Karoly, D.J.; Hegerl, G.C.; Zwiers, F.W.; Allen, M.R.; Marengo, J. (2001). "Chapter 12. Detection of Climate Change and Attribution of Causes". IPCC Third Assessment Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  10. Summary for Policymakers (PDF), Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), nd, retrieved 8 October 2018, "IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty
  11. Allen, Myles; Dube, Opha Pauline; Solecki, William (7 October 2018). Chapter 1: Framing and Context. Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (Report). Incheon, Republic of Korea: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  12. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=myles+allen Myles Allen in Google Scholar
  13. Allen, M. R.; Ingram, W. J. (2002). "Constraints on future changes in climate and the hydrologic cycle". Nature. 419 (6903): 224–232. Bibcode:2002Natur.419..224A. doi:10.1038/nature01092. PMID   12226677. S2CID   916557.
  14. Stott, P. A.; Stone, D. A.; Allen, M. R. (2004). "Human contribution to the European heatwave of 2003". Nature. 432 (7017): 610–614. Bibcode:2004Natur.432..610S. doi:10.1038/nature03089. PMID   15577907. S2CID   13882658.
  15. Tett, S. F. B.; Stott, P. A.; Allen, M. R.; Ingram, W. J.; Mitchell, J. F. B. (1999). "Causes of twentieth-century temperature change near the Earth's surface". Nature. 399 (6736): 569–572. Bibcode:1999Natur.399..569T. doi:10.1038/21164. S2CID   4431997.
  16. Forest, C. E.; Stone, P. H.; Sokolov, A. P.; Allen, M. R.; Webster, M. D. (2002). "Quantifying Uncertainties in Climate System Properties with the Use of Recent Climate Observations". Science. 295 (5552): 113–117. Bibcode:2002Sci...295..113F. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.297.1145 . doi:10.1126/science.1064419. PMID   11778044. S2CID   5322736.
  17. Allen, M. R.; Stott, P. A.; Mitchell, J. F. B.; Schnur, R.; Delworth, T. L. (2000). "Quantifying the uncertainty in forecasts of anthropogenic climate change". Nature. 407 (6804): 617–620. Bibcode:2000Natur.407..617A. doi:10.1038/35036559. PMID   11034207. S2CID   4426713.
  18. "About Fate of the World". fateoftheworld.net/about. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2011.
  19. "Fossil fuel companies 'should be made to invest in carbon capture and storage'". The Guardian . 2 July 2015.
  20. "Appleton medal recipients". Institute of Physics. p. 1. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  21. "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N8.
  22. "Myles Allen". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 26 May 2023.