Dr Chris Brierley

University College London
Pearson Building
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT

E-Mail: c.brierley@ucl.ac.uk
Tel.: +44 (0)20 7679 0571

I am interested in the role of the ocean under climate change. I use climate models to uncover this role both in the geologic past and the future. I joined UCL from Yale, where I worked closely Alexey Fedorov on the Pliocene climate. Prior to that I researched ocean model uncertainty and its impact on climate projections at Reading University.

I discovered that the meridional (North-South) extent of warm tropical waters was much larger in warm past climates, and have looked at the consequences of this for the climate of past 5 million years (more). It has been suggested that tropical cyclones (e.g. hurricanes) play an important role in the climate system and we have discovered a climate feedback involving them, which may explain permanent El Niño (more). I have published several articles looking at the contribution of uncertainties in ocean model parameter values to the total uncertainty of climate projections (more). You can find out much more about these topics and the rest of my research on my projects page.

I have been involved in publishing a quick guide to climate change with Pocket Issue. If you have specific questions about climate change, I recommend that you look at the results of the NERC climate change challenge and the summary that I compiled about it.