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Study the UKCA model

Dates: 29 January – 2 February 2024
Location: Virtual

Our Introduction to UK Chemistry Aerosol (UKCA) Model course provides practical experience of running a community chemistry-aerosol climate model. 

The UKCA model is based on the Met Office Unified Model and the atmospheric composition module of the UK Earth System Model.

You will receive support from expert UKCA users at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and gain experience of setting up and running experiments on the model. 

Applications close 15 December 2023.

How to apply

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Applications close 15 December 2023.

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Learning outcomes

We aim for students to:

  • Be proficient using the main parts of the UKCA model and adapting it to specific purposes;
  • Feel confident adding new species and reactions to the model;
  • Know how to change and add emissions;
  • Manage model outputs, add diagnostics and examine impacts.
  • Prerequisites

    Students should ideally have knowledge of Fortran, Python, the Unified Model, FCM, Rose, and Cylc.

    Teaching staff

    Computer modellers from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and our research partners will introduce you to the UKCA.

    Course schedule

    The course will take place over five full days, where students will connect to dedicated computers to work through the course material. Support will be provided by Zoom and Slack.

    Costs

    There is a charge to attend the Introduction to UKCA course. You will be asked to pay for your place on the course via the University of Leeds online store once you have been offered a place.

    Full academic price: £397
    Educational discounted price: £293

    This may be available to students or post-doctoral researchers not eligible for the subsidised rate.

    NCAS subsidised price: £191

    This subsidy is for UK & EU students attending UK universities or students that are supervised by NCAS staff.
    Once you have been offered a place on this course, you will be asked to pay the course fees via the University of Leeds online store.

    Commercial rate

    Attendees from commercial organisations should contact training@ncas.ac.uk to discuss the course fee. Please contact training@ncas.ac.uk.

    The course fee includes all tuition, activities, and materials.

    Travel and accommodation

    As the course is virtual no travel or accommodation is required.

    Terms and conditions

    Cancellations/ refunds

    Attendee cancellations are subject to a £50 administration fee, plus any accommodation cancellation costs incurred by us, where the cancellation is made more than six weeks (twelve weeks for the Atmospheric Measurement Summer School) before the date of the training course. The remaining balance of the course fee will be refunded.

    No refund is payable for a cancellation made within six weeks (twelve weeks for the Atmospheric Measurement Summer School) immediately prior to the training course – in this event the full course fee will remain payable. In the event that a place can be filled by another student then the full fee (less the £50 administration fee) will be refunded once the replacement student has paid in full.

    All cancellations must be sent in writing to training@ncas.ac.uk.

    Amendments and cancellations

    It may be necessary for us to change the content and timing of a course, the staff, the date or the venue. In the unlikely event of the course being cancelled, we will provide a full refund. For all bookings, the liability of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science/University of Leeds shall be limited to the amount of the fee paid to the National Centre for Atmospheric Science/University of Leeds by the delegate.