Dr Elena Saggioro presenting her poster in the WWRP/WCRP S2S Summit 2023
Dr Elena Saggioro participated in the WWRP/WCRP Subseasonal to Seasonal (S2S) Summit conference, celebrating the 10 years of the S2S prediction project, at the University of Reading on 3-7 July. S2S predictions represent the forefront of weather predictions, going beyond 2 weeks to a season ahead. They are crucial to provide early warnings of high-impact events, such as tropical cyclones, droughts, and heat waves, and their impacts on society.
The conference presentations ranged from prediction skill for extreme weather events on these time scales, the role of land and aerosols and more. Elena presented a poster on her PhD research, quantifying the scope for improving predictions of the jet stream, a strong current of winds in the mid latitudes relevant to surface climate, several weeks to months ahead (picture). Finally, a range of innovative projects of S2S forecasts used for climate services were presented, including forecasts of variables relevant for weekly to monthly planning in the energy and health sector.
Focus discussions were also held to identify priority area of future development, from which Machine Learning and co-development of S2S products with users emerged. Interestingly, these themes have several commonalities the latest development in climate science on novel software technologies and an ever closer engagement with stakeholders.