National database of atmospheric and weather data tops 10,000 users

31 August 2007

A scientist studying amphibians is the ten thousandth user to access a national database of weather and atmospheric measurements.

Kerry Murton from Cardiff University's Llysdinam Field Centre has been investigating the affect of climate change on the timing of events in the lifecycle of newts. Kerry is using data from the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC) at the Science & Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Phenology is the timing of events in the life cycle, such as migration or breeding, and in the amphibian life cycle phenology it is largely driven by factors such as moisture and temperature. For her PhD Kerry is conducting a site-specific study at Llysdinam Pond on newt migration, courtship behaviour, egg laying and larval development. She is also contributing to a long term dataset on newt movements to and from the pond. Newt migrations at Llysdinam have been monitored since 1980 when the pond was encircled with a drift fence and pitfall traps enabling daily monitoring of the numbers of newts entering and exiting the pond.

Kerry will be accessing the BADC to get the UK's Meteorological Office rainfall and temperature data for her local weather station which was established at Llysdinam, mid-Wales, in 1988. The weather data will be matched to the records of newly metamorphosed juvenile newts, 'efts' leaving the pond annually. One aim is to investigate how the number of 'efts' leaving the pond over the past 26 years varies with recorded temperature and rainfall data to determine which conditions are more favourable to them. In addition, newt courtship surveys and egg laying data will be analysed against the weather data. Torchlight surveys for the newt courtship dance were carried out regularly each week and data on newt egg laying over the season were collected.

Previous research on adult newt migrations to the pond found a change in the timing of arrival over the years. Milder spring temperatures have resulted in first arrival dates being five weeks earlier than in the 1980s, with male palmate newts arriving increasingly earlier than the other groups. Kerry said, "In my research I aim to find out what the consequences of this earlier arrival are for courtship timing and egg laying and ultimately breeding success. The ability of animals and plants to adapt to climate change will have a large impact on the biodiversity of the UK."

The BADC, hosted by STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, is the Natural Environment Research Council's designated data centre for atmospheric sciences, and is part of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. It holds many atmospheric datasets totalling more than a 100 Terabytes of data in over 80 million files, from a variety of sources, including satellites, balloons, aircraft, computer models of the atmosphere and ground-based instruments. The data are accessible free to non-commercial research projects through the BADC website.

Dr Sam Pepler, who manages the Data Centre at RAL says, "We have many users researching a diverse range of subjects including climate change and its impact on ecology and water resources, through to medical research and social issues, like housing. NERC values the data it produces and ensures that access is provided to as many different researchers as possible and that the data is kept for posterity."

Further information

Natalie Bealing
Press Office
Science & Technology Facilities Council
Tel: 01235 445484

Dr Sam Pepler
BADC manager
BADC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Tel: 01235 446538

Miss Kerry Murton
Llysdinam Field Centre,
part of the School of Biosciences
Cardiff University
Tel: 01597 860308

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. Images - high-resolution images are available from Natalie Bealing:

Kerry Murton checking pitfall traps around Llysdinam Pond
a male smooth newt
a juvenile newt 'eft'
Llysdinam Pond

2. Science & Technology Facilities Council

The Science & Technology Facilities Council ensures the UK retains its leading place on the world stage by delivering world-class science; accessing and hosting international facilities; developing innovative technologies; and increasing the socio-economic impact of its research through effective knowledge exchange partnerships.

The Council has a broad science portfolio including Astronomy, Particle Physics, Particle Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, Space Science, Synchrotron Radiation, Neutron Sources and High Power Lasers. In addition the Council manages and operates three internationally renowned laboratories:

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire
Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire
UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh

The Council gives researchers access to world-class facilities and funds the UK membership of international bodies such as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the Institute Laue Langevin (ILL), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the European organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) and the European Space Agency (ESA). It also contributes money for the UK telescopes overseas on La Palma, Hawaii, Australia and in Chile, and the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, which includes the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory.

The Council distributes public money from the Government to support scientific research. Between 2007 and 2008 we will invest £678m. The Council is a partner in the UK space programme, co-ordinated by the British National Space Centre.

For further information contact Natalie Bealing, Science & Technology Facilities Council Press Office

3. British Atmospheric Data Centre

The role of the BADC is to assist UK atmospheric researchers to locate, access and interpret atmospheric data and to ensure the long-term integrity of atmospheric data produced by NERC projects.

The BADC is part of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS). NCAS is a NERC-established collaborative centre, which supports the national capability in atmospheric science research.

For further information contact Dr Sam Pepler, BADC manager, RAL.

4. The research

The number of adult newts breeding at the pond varies annually, with between 1500 and 3500 newts arriving at the pond each year. The project focuses on palmate newts Triturus helveticus and smooth newts T. vulgaris, although small populations of great crested newts T. cristatus, common toads Bufo bufo and common frogs Rana temporaria also breed at the pond. Although the smooth newt is more widely distributed in the UK, the smaller palmate newt is more common in Wales and makes up 75% of the population at Llysdinam pond.

For further information contact Miss Kerry Murton, Llysdinam Field Centre, (part of the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University).

National database of atmospheric and weather data tops 10,000 users

External links

Press links

Recent press news