Meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences which includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics, with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century; the 19th century saw modest progress in the field after weather observation networks were formed across broad regions. Prior attempts at prediction of weather depended on historical data, it was not until after the elucidation of the laws of physics and more the development of the computer, allowing for the automated solution of a great many equations that model the weather, in the latter half of the 20th century that significant breakthroughs in weather forecasting were achieved. An important domain of weather forecasting is marine weather forecasting as it relates to maritime and coastal safety, in which weather effects include atmospheric interactions with large bodies of water. Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events that are explained by the science of meteorology.
Meteorological phenomena are described and quantified by the variables of Earth's atmosphere: temperature, air pressure, water vapour, mass flow, the variations and interactions of those variables, how they change over time. Different spatial scales are used to describe and predict weather on local and global levels. Meteorology, atmospheric physics, atmospheric chemistry are sub-disciplines of the atmospheric sciences. Meteorology and hydrology compose the interdisciplinary field of hydrometeorology; the interactions between Earth's atmosphere and its oceans are part of a coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Meteorology has application in many diverse fields such as the military, energy production, transport and construction; the word meteorology is from the Ancient Greek μετέωρος metéōros and -λογία -logia, meaning "the study of things high in the air". The ability to predict rains and floods based on annual cycles was evidently used by humans at least from the time of agricultural settlement if not earlier.
Early approaches to predicting weather were practiced by priests. Cuneiform inscriptions on Babylonian tablets included associations between rain; the Chaldeans differentiated 46 ° halos. Ancient Indian Upanishads contain mentions of seasons; the Samaveda mentions sacrifices to be performed. Varāhamihira's classical work Brihatsamhita, written about 500 AD, provides evidence of weather observation. In 350 BC, Aristotle wrote Meteorology. Aristotle is considered the founder of meteorology. One of the most impressive achievements described in the Meteorology is the description of what is now known as the hydrologic cycle; the book De Mundo noted If the flashing body is set on fire and rushes violently to the Earth it is called a thunderbolt. They are all called ` swooping bolts'. Lightning is sometimes smoky, is called'smoldering lightning". At other times, it travels in crooked lines, is called forked lightning; when it swoops down upon some object it is called'swooping lightning'. The Greek scientist Theophrastus compiled a book on weather forecasting, called the Book of Signs.
The work of Theophrastus remained a dominant influence in the study of weather and in weather forecasting for nearly 2,000 years. In 25 AD, Pomponius Mela, a geographer for the Roman Empire, formalized the climatic zone system. According to Toufic Fahd, around the 9th century, Al-Dinawari wrote the Kitab al-Nabat, in which he deals with the application of meteorology to agriculture during the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, he describes the meteorological character of the sky, the planets and constellations, the sun and moon, the lunar phases indicating seasons and rain, the anwa, atmospheric phenomena such as winds, lightning, floods, rivers, lakes. Early attempts at predicting weather were related to prophecy and divining, were sometimes based on astrological ideas. Admiral FitzRoy tried to separate scientific approaches from prophetic ones. Ptolemy wrote on the atmospheric refraction of light in the context of astronomical observations. In 1021, Alhazen showed that atmospheric refraction is responsible for twilight.
St. Albert the Great was the first to propose that each drop of falling rain had the form of a small sphere, that this form meant that the rainbow was produced by light interacting with each raindrop. Roger Bacon was the first to calculate the angular size of the rainbow, he stated. In the late 13th century and early 14th century, Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī and Theodoric of Freiberg were the first to give the correct explanations for the primary rainbow phenomenon. Theoderic went further and explained the secondary rainbow. In 1716, Edmund Halley suggested that aurorae are caused by "magnetic effluvia" moving along the Earth's magnetic field lines. In 1441, King Sejong's son, Prince Munjong of Korea, invented the first standardized rain gauge; these were sent throughout the Joseon dynasty of Korea as an official tool to assess land taxes based
Government of the United Kingdom
The Government of the United Kingdom, formally referred to as Her Majesty's Government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is commonly referred to as the UK Government or the British Government; the government is led by the Prime Minister. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, known as the Cabinet; the government ministers all sit in Parliament, are accountable to it. The government is dependent on Parliament to make primary legislation, since the Fixed-terms Parliaments Act 2011, general elections are held every five years to elect a new House of Commons, unless there is a successful vote of no confidence in the government or a two-thirds vote for a snap election in the House of Commons, in which case an election may be held sooner. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most to command the confidence of the House of Commons by possessing a majority of MPs.
Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister and the cabinet. The Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. In most cases they exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, though some Cabinet positions are sinecures to a greater or lesser degree; the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the general election on 7 May 2015, when David Cameron was the party leader. Prior to this and the Conservatives led a coalition from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats, in which Cameron was prime minister; the Government is referred to with the metonym Westminster, due to that being where many of the offices of the government are situated by members in the Government of Scotland, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive in order to differentiate it from their own.
A key principle of the British Constitution is. This is called responsible government; the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by Parliament; this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into the House of Commons; the House of Commons is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the upper house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws, the House of Commons can vote to overrule its amendments. Although the House of Lords can introduce bills, most important laws are introduced in the House of Commons – and most of those are introduced by the government, which schedules the vast majority of parliamentary time in the Commons. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, because they must pass through a number of readings before becoming law.
Prior to introducing a bill, the government may run a public consultation to solicit feedback from the public and businesses, may have introduced and discussed the policy in the Queen's Speech, or in an election manifesto or party platform. Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House. For most senior ministers this is the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords. There have been some recent exceptions to this: for example, cabinet ministers Lord Mandelson and Lord Adonis sat in the Lords and were responsible to that House during the government of Gordon Brown. Since the start of Edward VII's reign in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. A similar convention applies to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it would be politically unacceptable for the budget speech to be given in the Lords, with MPs unable to directly question the Chancellor now that the Lords have limited powers in relation to money bills.
The last Chancellor of the Exchequer to be a member of the House of Lords was Lord Denman, who served as interim Chancellor of the Exchequer for one month in 1834. Under the British system, the government is required by convention and for practical reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons, it requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply and to pass primary legislation. By convention, if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held; the support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital. A government is not required to resign if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House; the House of Commons is thus the Responsible house. The prime minister is held to account during Prime Minister's Questions which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public university located in Reading, England. It was founded in 1892 as Reading, a University of Oxford extension college; the institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 1926 by Royal Charter from King George V and was the only university to receive such a charter between the two world wars. The university is categorised as a red brick university, reflecting its original foundation in the 19th century, it has four major campuses. In the United Kingdom, the campuses on London Road and Whiteknights are based in the town of Reading itself, Greenlands is based on the banks of the River Thames, Buckinghamshire, it has a campus in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia. The university has been arranged into 16 academic schools since 2016. Reading was ranked 35th in the UK amongst multi-faculty institutions for the quality of its research and 28th for its Research Power in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. In total, 98% of the University's research is labelled as'internationally recognised', 78% as'internationally excellent and 27% as'world leading'.
Reading was the first university to win a Queen's Award for Export Achievement, in 1989. The annual income of the institution for 2016–17 was £275.3 million of which £35.4 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £297.5 million. In 2019 it was reported; the university owes its first origins to the Schools of Art and Science established in Reading in 1860 and 1870. In 1892 the College at Reading was founded as an extension college by Christ Church, a college of the University of Oxford; the first President was the geographer Sir Halford John Mackinder. The Schools of Art and Science were transferred to the new college by Reading Town Council in the same year; the new college received its first treasury grant in 1901. Three years it was given a site, now the university's London Road Campus, by the Palmer family of Huntley & Palmers fame; the same family supported the opening of Wantage Hall in 1908, of the Research Institute in Dairying in 1912. The college first was unsuccessful at that time.
However a second petition, in 1925, was successful, the charter was granted on 17 March 1926. With the charter, the college became the University of Reading, the only new university to be created in the United Kingdom between the two world wars, it was added to the Combined English Universities constituency in 1928 in time for the 1929 general election. In 1947 the university purchased Whiteknights Park, to become its principal campus. In 1984 the University started a merger with Bulmershe College of Higher Education, completed in 1989. In October 2006, the Senior Management Board proposed the closure of its Physics Department to future undergraduate application; this was ascribed to financial reasons and lack of alternative ideas and caused considerable controversy, not least a debate in Parliament over the closure which prompted heated discussion of higher education issues in general. On 10 October the Senate voted to close the Department of Physics, a move confirmed by the Council on 20 November.
Other departments closed in recent years include Music, Sociology and Mechanical Engineering. The university council decided in March 2009 to close the School of Health and Social Care, a school whose courses have been oversubscribed. In January 2008, the university announced its merger with the Henley Management College to create the university's new Henley Business School, bringing together Henley College's expertise in MBAs with the University's existing Business School and ICMA Centre; the merger took formal effect on 1 August 2008, with the new business school split across the university's existing Whiteknights Campus and its new Greenlands Campus that housed Henley Management College. A restructuring of the university was announced in September 2009, which would bring together all the academic schools into three faculties, these being the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Humanities and Social sciences, Henley Business School; the move was predicted to result in the loss of some jobs in the film and television department, which has since moved into a brand new £11.5 million building on Whiteknights Campus.
In late 2009 it was announced that the London Road Campus was to undergo a £30 million renovation, preparatory to becoming the new home of the university's Institute of Education. The Institute moved to its new home in January 2012.. The refurbishment was funded by the sale of the adjoining site of Mansfield Hall, a former hall of residence, for demolition and replacement by private sector student accommodation; the university is a lead sponsor of UTC Reading, a new university technical college which opened in September 2013. In 2016 a move to reorganise the structure of Reading University provoked student protests. On 21 March 2016, staff announced a vote of no confidence in the Vice Chancellor Sir David Bell. 88% of those who voted backed the no confidence motion. In 2019 The Guardian reported that the university was in "a financial and governance crisis" after reporting itself to regulators over a £121 million loan; the university is sole trustee of the charitable National Institute for Research in Dairying trust, after selling trust land had borrowed the £121 million proceeds from the trust, despite the potential conflict of interest in the decision making.
Including this loan, the university has debts of £300 million, as well as having an operating deficit of over £40 million for the past two years. The university maintains over 1.6 square kilometres of grounds, in four distinct c
Global warming
Global warming is a long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system, an aspect of climate change shown by temperature measurements and by multiple effects of the warming. Though earlier geological periods experienced episodes of warming, the term refers to the observed and continuing increase in average air and ocean temperatures since 1900 caused by emissions of greenhouse gasses in the modern industrial economy. In the modern context the terms global warming and climate change are used interchangeably, but climate change includes both global warming and its effects, such as changes to precipitation and impacts that differ by region. Many of the observed warming changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record, in historical and paleoclimate proxy records of climate change over thousands to millions of years. In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report concluded, "It is likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century."
The largest human influence has been the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century, the global surface temperature is to rise a further 0.3 to 1.7 °C to 2.6 to 4.8 °C depending on the rate of greenhouse gas emissions and on climate feedback effects. These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing. Future climate change effects are expected to include rising sea levels, ocean acidification, regional changes in precipitation, expansion of deserts in the subtropics. Surface temperature increases are greatest in the Arctic, with the continuing retreat of glaciers and sea ice. Predicted regional precipitation effects include more frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves, wildfires, heavy rainfall with floods, heavy snowfall. Effects directly significant to humans are predicted to include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields, the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels.
Environmental impacts appear to include the extinction or relocation of ecosystems as they adapt to climate change, with coral reefs, mountain ecosystems, Arctic ecosystems most threatened. Because the climate system has a large "inertia" and greenhouse gases will remain in the atmosphere for a long time, climatic changes and their effects will continue to become more pronounced for many centuries if further increases to greenhouse gases stop. Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction, adaptation to its effects, possible future climate engineering. Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change. Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 °C compared to pre-industrial levels, with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 °C. Some scientists call into question climate adaptation feasibility, with higher emissions scenarios, or the two degree temperature target.
Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are increasing. A 2015 global survey showed that a median of 54% of respondents consider it "a serious problem", with significant regional differences: Americans and Chinese are among the least concerned. Multiple independently produced datasets confirm that between 1880 and 2012, the global average surface temperature increased by 0.85 °C. Since 1979 the rate of warming has doubled. Climate proxies show the temperature to have been stable over the one or two thousand years before 1850, with regionally varying fluctuations such as the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. Although the increase of the average near-surface atmospheric temperature is used to track global warming, over 90% of the additional energy stored in the climate system over the last 50 years has accumulated in the oceans; the rest warmed the continents and the atmosphere. The warming evident in the instrumental temperature record is consistent with a wide range of observations, as documented by many independent scientific groups.
Examples include sea level rise, widespread melting of snow and land ice, increased heat content of the oceans, increased humidity, the earlier timing of spring events, e.g. the flowering of plants. Global warming refers with the amount of warming varying by region. Since 1979, global average land temperatures have increased about twice as fast as global average ocean temperatures; this is due to the larger heat capacity of the oceans and because oceans lose more heat by evaporation. Where greenhouse gas emissions occur does not impact the location of warming because the major greenhouse gases persist long enough to diffuse across the planet, although localized black carbon deposits on snow and ice do contribute to Arctic warming; the Northern Hemisphere and North Pole have heated much faster than the South Pole and Southern Hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere not only has much more land, its arrangement around the Arctic Ocean has resulted in the maximum surface area flipping from reflective snow and ice cover to ocean and land surfaces that absorb more sunlight.
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Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, Derbyshire to the west. The traditional county town is Nottingham, though the county council is based in West Bridgford in the borough of Rushcliffe, at a site facing Nottingham over the River Trent; the districts of Nottinghamshire are Ashfield, Broxtowe, Mansfield and Sherwood, Rushcliffe. The City of Nottingham was administratively part of Nottinghamshire between 1974 and 1988, but is now a unitary authority, remaining part of Nottinghamshire for ceremonial purposes. In 2017, the county was estimated to have a population of 785,800. Over half of the population of the county live in the Greater Nottingham conurbation; the conurbation has a population of about 650,000, though less than half live within the city boundaries. Nottinghamshire lies on the Roman Fosse Way, there are Roman settlements in the county; the county was settled by Angles around the 5th century, became part of the Kingdom, Earldom, of Mercia.
However, there is evidence of Saxon settlement at the Broxtowe Estate, near Nottingham, Tuxford, east of Sherwood Forest. The name first occurs in 1016, but until 1568, the county was administratively united with Derbyshire, under a single Sheriff. In Norman times, the county developed woollen industries. During the industrial revolution, the county held much needed minerals such as coal and iron ore, had constructed some of the first experimental waggonways in the world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, mechanised deeper collieries opened, mining became an important economic sector, though these declined after the 1984–85 miners' strike; until 1610, Nottinghamshire was divided into eight Wapentakes. Sometime between 1610 and 1719, they were reduced to six – Newark, Thurgarton, Rushcliffe and Bingham, some of these names still being used for the modern districts. Oswaldbeck was absorbed in Bassetlaw, of which it forms the North Clay division, Lythe in Thurgarton. Nottinghamshire is famous for its involvement with the legend of Robin Hood.
This is the reason for the numbers of tourists who visit places like Sherwood Forest, City of Nottingham, the surrounding villages in Sherwood Forest. To reinforce the Robin Hood connection, the University of Nottingham in 2010 has begun the Nottingham Caves Survey, with the goal "to increase the tourist potential of these sites"; the project "will use a 3D laser scanner to produce a three dimensional record of more than 450 sandstone caves around Nottingham". Nottinghamshire was mapped first by Christopher Saxton in 1576; the map was the earliest printed map at a sufficiently useful scale to provide basic information on village layout, the existence of landscape features such as roads, tollbars and mills. Nottinghamshire, like Derbyshire, South Yorkshire, sits on extensive coal measures, up to 900 metres thick, occurring in the north of the county. There is an oilfield near Eakring; these are overlaid by sandstones and limestones in the west, clay in the east. The north of the county is part of the Humberhead Levels lacustrine plain.
The centre and south west of the county, around Sherwood Forest, features undulating hills with ancient oak woodland. Principal rivers are the Trent, Idle and Soar; the Trent, fed by the Soar and Idle, composed of many streams from Sherwood Forest, run through wide and flat valleys, merging at Misterton. A point just north of Newtonwood Lane, on the boundary with Derbyshire is the highest point in Nottinghamshire; the lowest is Peat Carr, east of Blaxton, at sea level. Nottinghamshire is sheltered by the Pennines to the west, so receives low rainfall at 641 to 740 millimetres annually; the average temperature of the county is 8.8–10.1 degrees Celsius. The county receives between 1470 hours of sunshine per year. Nottinghamshire contains one green belt area, first drawn up from the 1950s. Encircling the Nottingham conurbation, it stretches for several miles into the surrounding districts, extends into Derbyshire. Nottinghamshire is represented by eleven members of parliament. Kenneth Clarke of Rushcliffe is a former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord High Chancellor.
Following the 2017 County Council elections, the County Council is controlled by a coalition of Conservatives and Mansfield Independent Forum, having taken control from the Labour administration. The seats held are 31 Conservatives, 23 Labour, 11 Independents, 1 Liberal Democrat. In the previous 2013 election, the County Council was Labour controlled, a gain from the Conservatives. Local government is devolved to seven local district councils. Ashfield, Bassetlaw and Mansfield
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, sometimes referred to as Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world; the Irish Sea lies between Great Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world, it is the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017. The UK is constitutional monarchy; the current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 1952, making her the longest-serving current head of state.
The United Kingdom's capital and largest city is London, a global city and financial centre with an urban area population of 10.3 million. Other major urban areas in the UK include Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire conurbations, Greater Glasgow and the Liverpool Built-up Area; the United Kingdom consists of four constituent countries: England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Edinburgh and Belfast, respectively. Apart from England, the countries have their own devolved governments, each with varying powers, but such power is delegated by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which may enact laws unilaterally altering or abolishing devolution; the nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation. The medieval conquest and subsequent annexation of Wales by the Kingdom of England, followed by the union between England and Scotland in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, the union in 1801 of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. There are fourteen British Overseas Territories, the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed a quarter of the world's land mass and was the largest empire in history. British influence can be observed in the language and political systems of many of its former colonies; the United Kingdom is a developed country and has the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It has a high-income economy and has a high Human Development Index rating, ranking 14th in the world, it was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power, with considerable economic, military and political influence internationally, it is sixth in military expenditure in the world. It has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946.
It has been a leading member state of the European Union and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. The United Kingdom is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G20, NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization; the 1707 Acts of Union declared that the kingdoms of England and Scotland were "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain". The term "United Kingdom" has been used as a description for the former kingdom of Great Britain, although its official name from 1707 to 1800 was "Great Britain"; the Acts of Union 1800 united the kingdom of Great Britain and the kingdom of Ireland in 1801, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Following the partition of Ireland and the independence of the Irish Free State in 1922, which left Northern Ireland as the only part of the island of Ireland within the United Kingdom, the name was changed to the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
Although the United Kingdom is a sovereign country, Scotland and Northern Ireland are widely referred to as countries. The UK Prime Minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom; some statistical summaries, such as those for the twelve NUTS 1 regions of the United Kingdom refer to Scotland and Northern Ireland as "regions". Northern Ireland is referred to as a "province". With regard to Northern Ireland, the descriptive name used "can be controversial, with the choice revealing one's political preferences"; the term "Great Britain" conventionally refers to the island of Great Britain, or politically to England and Wales in combination. However, it is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole; the term "Britain" is used both as a synonym for Great Britain, as a synonym for the United Kingdom. Usage is mixed, with the BBC preferring to use Britain as shorthand only for Great Britain and the UK Government, while accepting that both terms refer to the United K
