Dr Neil Harris and colleagues took part in the prestigious Summer Science Exhibition at the Royal Society in London, which is an annual display for the public of the most exciting new science and technology research from leading UK universities.
The team created a mock-up of the UK NERC research aircraft, which visitors could sit in and, watching video footage of actual flights shown through the aircraft "windows", experience the realities and excitement of the field measurement campaign in the remote tropical island of Guam earlier this year. The exhibit also included hands-on demonstrations of how heated air creates uplifts in the atmosphere, through the use of empty teabags, matches and a transparent cylinder, and how water vapour forms clouds, demonstrated by expanding supersaturated air in a Coke bottle. The project aims to increase understanding of climate criticial water vapour patterns and ozone levels, and includes a collaboration with NASA, whose Global Hawk unmanned vehicle joined the campaign in Guam this year and will also be in California next year when two new UK instruments will be flown for the first time.
In the photo are, from left to right: Professor Paul Kaye and Dr Chris Stopford (both University of Hertfordshire), Dr Michelle Cain (Chemistry postdoc), Robyn Butler (University of Edinburgh PhD student), Stéphane Baugitte (Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements: FAAM), Dr Neil Harris, Dr Stuart Riddick (Chemistry postdoc), Dr Neil Humpage (University of Leicester), and Douglas Anderson (sitting, FAAM).