Julia Slingo

Dame Julia Slingo

Julia Slingo in 2015, portrait via the Royal Society
Born Julia Mary Walker
(1950-12-13) December 13, 1950
Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England, UK
Fields
Institutions
Alma mater University of Bristol
Thesis  (1988)
Notable awards
Spouse Anthony Slingo
Children Two

Website

Dame Julia Mary Slingo, DBE, FRS (née Walker; born 13 December 1950) is a British meteorologist and climate scientist. She has been the Chief Scientist at the Met Office since 2009.[2] She is also a Visiting Professor in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, where she held, prior to appointment to the Met Office, the positions of Director of Climate Research in NERC's National Centre for Atmospheric Science and founding Director of the Walker Institute for Climate System Research.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

In 2015 she was appointed as one of seven members of the High Level Group of Scientific Advisors of the EC Scientific Advice Mechanism.[9][10]

Early life and education

Julia Mary Walker was born on 13 December 1950 in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England.[3] She was educated at the King's High School for Girls, an all-girls independent school in Warwick.[11] She studied physics at the University of Bristol and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in 1973. In 1988, she completed a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree at the same university.[12][13]

Career

Following her degree she joined the Met Office, where she became a Senior Scientist in the dynamical meteorology section. Her research focussed on clouds and their interactions with the rest of the atmosphere, and she pioneered new ways to represent clouds in weather forecast and climate models.[4][11]

In 1985 she left the Met Office and, after a year at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)[1] in Reading, UK, Dame Julia moved in 1986 to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the USA. While at NCAR she was awarded in 1989 a PhD in atmospheric physics from the University of Bristol, for a thesis completed through a series of published papers.[14][15][11][16][17]

In 1990 Slingo returned to the UK, to join the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, where she founded a group researching into tropical climate. She became an established researcher in tropical climate variability and cumulus convection, its influence on the global climate, and its role in seasonal and decadal climate prediction, and led the development of a new generation of high resolution climate models.[11] Slingo developed a particular interest in the monsoons of India and China, working closely with scientists in both countries. More recently, she has also been investigating the impacts of changes on water resources and crop production, and the need to better represent the hydrological cycle in climate models.[11] While at Reading Dame Julia became the first female Professor of Meteorology in the UK, and was appointed to the leading role in the UK climate science community of Director of Climate Research in NERC's National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS).[5] In 2006 she founded the Walker Institute for Climate System Research at Reading,[5] aimed at addressing the cross disciplinary challenges of climate change and its impacts.

As Chief Scientist at the Met Office, Slingo is responsible for providing scientific and technical strategy, ensuring that the organisation adheres to good scientific and technical standards, and for directing and managing research and development within the Met Office. She also represents the Office on science and technology across government.[5]

In March 2012, Slingo said that a reduction in Arctic sea ice caused by climate change was possibly linked to colder and drier winter weather in the UK.[18] In February 2014, she said that climate change is likely to be a factor in the storms and floods Britain had been experiencing for several months.[19][20][21]

According to the Met Office accounts for 2011/12, Slingo was paid a salary of £135,000 – £140,000, with an additional bonus of £25,000 – £30,000.[22] Slingo lives in Sidmouth in Devon.[23]

Personal life

Slingo was married to Anthony Slingo.[3] He was an environmental scientist and academic. He died in 2008.[24] Together they have two daughters; Mary and Anna.[4][24]

Honours and awards

Slingo was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2008 for services to environmental and climate science.[25] She was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to weather and climate science.[26]

Slingo was awarded the Buchan Prize of the Royal Meteorological Society in 1998.[27] She was awarded honorary degrees of doctor of science by the University of Bristol in 2010,[13] and the University of Reading in 2011.[28] In 2014 Slingo was named one of the 100 leading UK practising scientists by the Science Council.[29]

Slingo was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015.[30] The same year she was awarded the prestigious International Meteorological Organization Prize from the World Meteorological Organization.[31]

Slingo was the first female Professor of Meteorology in the UK. In 2008, she became the first woman President of the Royal Meteorological Society.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Slingo, J. M. (2007). "The Development and Verification of a Cloud Prediction Scheme for the Ecmwf Model". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 113 (477): 899–927. doi:10.1002/qj.49711347710.
  2. 1 2 "Met Office chief scientist becomes Dame in honours list", BBC News, 2013-12-30
  3. 1 2 3 "SLINGO, Prof. Julia Mary". Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press. (subscription required)
  4. 1 2 3 Julia Slingo interviewed on The Life Scientific by Jim Al-Khalili, BBC 2014-04-08
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Julia Slingo OBE", Met Office
  6. ↑ Julia Slingo's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database, a service provided by Elsevier. (subscription required)
  7. ↑ Slingo, J. M.; Sperber, K. R.; Boyle, J. S.; Ceron, J. -P.; Dix, M.; Dugas, B.; Ebisuzaki, W.; Fyfe, J.; Gregory, D.; Gueremy, J. -F.; Hack, J.; Harzallah, A.; Inness, P.; Kitoh, A.; Lau, W. K. -M.; McAvaney, B.; Madden, R.; Matthews, A.; Palmer, T. N.; Parkas, C. -K.; Randall, D.; Renno, N. (1996). "Intraseasonal oscillations in 15 atmospheric general circulation models: Results from an AMIP diagnostic subproject". Climate Dynamics. 12 (5): 325–357. Bibcode:1996ClDy...12..325S. doi:10.1007/BF00231106.
  8. ↑ Annamalai, H.; Slingo, J. M.; Sperber, K. R.; Hodges, K. (1999). "The Mean Evolution and Variability of the Asian Summer Monsoon: Comparison of ECMWF and NCEP–NCAR Reanalyses". Monthly Weather Review. 127 (6): 1157–1186. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1999)127<1157:TMEAVO>2.0.CO;2.
  9. ↑ Wilsdon, James (2015-11-10). "European commission unveils its A-team of science advisers". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
  10. ↑ "SAM High Level Group". European Commission. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Honorary Doctorate Citation, Bristol". Bristol University. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  12. ↑ https://www.lib.bris.ac.uk/F/?func=find-e&request=slingo
  13. 1 2 "University of Bristol, Alumni and friends". Bristol University. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  14. ↑ Yang, G. Y.; Slingo, J. (2001). "The Diurnal Cycle in the Tropics". Monthly Weather Review. 129 (4): 784–801. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(2001)129<0784:TDCITT>2.0.CO;2.
  15. ↑ Woolnough, S. J.; Slingo, J. M.; Hoskins, B. J. (2000). "The Relationship between Convection and Sea Surface Temperature on Intraseasonal Timescales". Journal of Climate. 13 (12): 2086–2104. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2000)013<2086:TRBCAS>2.0.CO;2.
  16. ↑ Ju, J.; Slingo, J. (1995). "The Asian summer monsoon and ENSO". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 121 (525): 1133–1168. doi:10.1002/qj.49712152509.
  17. ↑ Slingo, J. M. (1980). "A cloud parametrization scheme derived from GATE data for use with a numerical model". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 106 (450): 747–770. doi:10.1002/qj.49710645008.
  18. ↑ Vaughan, Adam (14 March 2012). "Met Office: Arctic sea-ice loss linked to colder, drier UK winters". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  19. ↑ "Met Office: Evidence 'suggests climate change link to storms'", BBC News, 9 February 2014
  20. ↑ Slingo, J. et al., The recent storms and floods in the UK, Met Office, and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology report, Feb. 2014, PDF Copy
  21. ↑ Huntingford, C.; et al. (Sep 2014). "Potential influences in the United Kingdom's floods of winter 2013/14". Nature Climate Change. 4: 769–777. doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE2314.
  22. ↑ "Annual Report and Accounts 2011/12" (PDF). Met Office. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  23. ↑ Sumner, Stephen (10 January 2014). "Prominent Sidmouth scientist named a dame". Sidmouth Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  24. 1 2 Professor Anthony Slingo
  25. ↑ "Queen's Birthday Honours: Full list", The Independent, 13 June 2008
  26. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60728. p. 7. 2013-12-31.
  27. ↑ "RMS Buchan Prize Holders". Royal Meteorological Society. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  28. ↑ "University of Reading Honorary Graduates". University of Reading. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  29. ↑ "100 leading UK practicing scientists". Science Council. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  30. ↑ "Royal Society elects new Fellows". Royal Society. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  31. ↑ "Winners of the IMO Prize". World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
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