Prof Richard Betts
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richardabetts.bsky.social
Prof Richard Betts
@richardabetts.bsky.social

Climate scientist, University of Exeter and Met Office. Expert Adviser to the Adaptation Committee of the Climate Change Committee. Lead author IPCC AR4, AR5 & AR6. Live music lover, supporter of grassroots venues. Cycles a lot, rock climbs occasionally. .. more

Richard Arthur Betts is Head of the Climate Impacts strategic area at the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter, United Kingdom. He is also chair in Climate Impacts at the University of Exeter and the Principal Investigator of the EU FP7 project HELIX. He was a lead author for Working Group I and a contributing author for Working Group II of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. He was a lead author for Working Group II of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. He is an editor for the International Journal of Global Warming, the Journal of Environmental Investing, and for Earth System Dynamics. He was appointed MBE in the 2019 Birthday Honours. .. more

Environmental science 58%
Geography 17%
Pinned
Looking forward to a 4th term an IPCC Lead Author! I've dotted around a bit over the years:

AR4 - WG1 Radiative Forcing (focussing on land use)
AR5 - WG2 Terrestrial Ecosystems
AR6 - WG2 Water
AR7 - WG1 Global Projections

Always fantastic to work with international colleagues and learn from them
Brexit has caused almost twice as much damage to the UK economy than estimated by official forecasts, according to new paper from a group of experts including a senior Bank of England economist
Brexit Hit to UK Economy Double Official Estimate, Study Finds
Brexit has caused almost twice as much damage to the UK economy than estimated by official forecasts, according to new paper from a group of experts including a senior Bank of England economist.
bloom.bg

My final talk of COP30

And more! 😊

More Amazon sustainability science at COP30 today!

Every day!

Our next COP30 event -
tomorrow (Saturday)

Global Carbon Budget
AmazonFACE
Science Panel for the Amazon
Science Panel for Borneo
Science Panel for the Congo Basin

Today!
If you’re at COP30 please join us to discuss what the world would be like without forests! UK pavilion Thursday 16:30 - 18:00 including food and drink after 😃

If you’re at COP30 please join us to discuss what the world would be like without forests! UK pavilion Thursday 16:30 - 18:00 including food and drink after 😃

Thanks! Hadn’t heard he’d died cos out of touch travelling otherwise yes it would have been obvious!

Who? Sorry if this should be obvious!
The sad thing is, I remember sketching changes in temperature and heavy precip distributions in exactly this way in the early 2000s, just to now watch it play out.

The animation very much reminds me of an angry beast pulling on its chains; and they are tearing loose...
Exactly! Which makes the real climate shift way scarier. Like shown by the data from svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5452/

Our big experiment in the Amazon rainforest

AmazonFACE will use Free Air CO2 Enrichment ("FACE") methods to study the effect of elevated CO2 on the forest

We'll study the impacts on carbon, water and nutrient cycles and biodiversity, and use this to improve models

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaq0...
Como funciona o AmazonFACE, megaexoerimento inédito com torres gigantes que 'cospem' CO2 na Amazônia
YouTube video by Folha de S.Paulo
www.youtube.com

*** 1 metre of rain ***
Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, is forecast to bring catastrophic damage to parts of the Caribbean

The mountains of Jamaica could receive 1 metre of rain, resulting in life-threatening flash flooding and landslides

Destructive winds and storm surges are also likely

Reposted by Richard Betts

Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, is forecast to bring catastrophic damage to parts of the Caribbean

The mountains of Jamaica could receive 1 metre of rain, resulting in life-threatening flash flooding and landslides

Destructive winds and storm surges are also likely

Last year the driver of this van illegally passed through a bus gate, deliberately drove at people holding a “Safe Streets Now” banner, hit one of them, then drove off

Today at Exeter Crown Court he was found guilty of dangerous driving and banned for 12 months

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...
Exeter: Van filmed being driven through traffic protest
Police investigate after it was reported that a Safe Streets Now protester was struck by the van.
www.bbc.co.uk

Of course! Leaving the EU was a huge mistake. It took away our freedom of movement, created extra bureaucracy and damaged trade, and didn’t “save money” as falsely promised. The UK is quite clearly worse off as a result. We should rejoin as soon as possible 🇪🇺

www.express.co.uk/news/politic...
POLL: Is Rachel Reeves right to blame Brexit for state of UK economy? | Politics | News | Express.co.uk
The Chancellor's comments come ahead of expected tax hikes in the autumn Budget next month.
www.express.co.uk
Yes the CO2 rise 2023-2024 was faster than we predicted at Mauna Loa and was a record rise there - now the WMO confirm the global mean rise was also a record

Also the rate of CO2 rise is now above the IPCC scenarios that limit global warming to 1.5C

www.carbonbrief.org/met-office-a...
📣 2025 volume of the Annual Review of Environment and Science is online! Most read article is "Overshoot: A Conceptual Review of Exceeding and Returning to Global Warming of 1.5°C" arevie.ws/3IF0OKf @andyreisinger.bsky.social @janfuglestvedt.bsky.social @chrisd-jones.bsky.social

Yep all good thanks!

Just boarding the Eurostar at Brussels myself now! Arrived from Munich via Frankfurt. Glad you had a good trip, and thanks for promoting international rail travel! 🚆😀
This is a good corrective to the BS narrative flowing through the Pielke/AEI/NYP/EID/DOE nexus. Their argument is designed so that we can never ever attribute extreme events to emissions - even singular events that would have *never* [for some suitable finite approximation] have happened before.
🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

1/11
UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation
Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.
www.ucl.ac.uk
NEW – Experts: The key ‘unknowns’ of overshooting the 1.5C global-warming limit | @ceciliakeating.carbonbrief.org and @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org

Read here: buff.ly/yPWMH59
Experts: The key ‘unknowns’ of overshooting the 1.5C global-warming limit - Carbon Brief
On the sidelines of a conference, Carbon Brief asked a range of experts what they consider to be the key “unknowns” around overshoot.
buff.ly

Great to visit the Kransberg ROOF experiment at the Technical University of Munich, studying the effects of drought on a mixed temperate forest 🌲🌳

Always fun to fly above the treetops in a canopy crane 🙂

www.plant-ecology.info/kroof-kranzb...

Reposted by Richard Betts

The green cross code is the most disastrous public information campaign in history. It has made generations believe that pedestrians are responsible for avoiding crashes. Crashes are actually the responsibility of the operators of the massive motorised lumps of metal.
📢 Vacancy: I am urgently recruiting a PhD candidate to join a project on selection processes in pedunculate oak.
📅 Start date: no later than December 1st.

Reposted by Richard Betts

Trust me to be giving a talk at the Moray Climate Action Network Climate Conference on the day a severe storm arrives in the area. I'll be talking about the influence of climate change on storms in this part of Scotland as well as my experiences with climate change denial. www.moraycan.org.uk
Kemi Badenoch has vowed to repeal the UK’s Climate Change Act, a move so reckless it demands more scrutiny than polite debate. This matters not just for polar bears or coral reefs, but for our people, our economy, our very future.

#ClimateChange #ClimateEmergency
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Kemi Badenoch vows to repeal Climate Change Act
Tory leader says she would replace it with ‘cheap energy’ strategy, ending decades-long consensus on climate
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Richard Betts

If 2 years ago UKGov had set a 20mph urban/village default at the same time as Wales then since then there would have been 30,000 fewer injuries and fatalities on English roads and drivers/business would have saved £4bn in insurance premiums. bit.ly/4gIBPlJ
Despite broad political support, one third of the nation's Climate Adaptation Science Centers will wind down in coming days due to lack of funds.

The Northeast, South Central, and Pacific Islands will be left without actionable science on drought, floods, wildfire, sea level rise and other hazards.
Trump officials shut off funding for climate adaptation centers
A third of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Climate Adaptation Science Centers are expected to drastically wind down and possibly close after Sept. 30.
www.washingtonpost.com