Climate forecasters gain satellite sites

The Natural Environment Research Council is investing Pounds 5 million over five years in two British satellite centres to allow scientists to forecast extremes of environmental change.

The Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, to be based at University College London and Bristol University, will use satellites to monitor sea levels and ocean circulation.

The Pounds 3 million Data Assimilation Research Centre, which involves the universities of Edinburgh, Reading, Oxford and Cambridge as well as the Met Office and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, will observe the atmosphere, oceans and land surfaces to help forecast global environmental changes.