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What we do

What we do

CEMAC provides specialist computational support for environmental research at the University of Leeds, working mainly with academics in the School of Earth and Environment and the Priestley International Centre for Climate.

Whole earth and regional simulation

We work with widely used whole earth simulations, including the UK Met Office "unified model" (MetOfficeUM) and the Community Earth System Model (CESM) developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). We also use the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). We use these models to produce global simulations or reconfigure them to increase the resolution for regional and local climate simulations.

Data acquisition and exploration

We support academics in data acquisition, automating the more mundane aspects of data retrieval through bespoke programming interfaces. Our work involves both archive data and data from live sensors, using a range of programming languages including Fortran and Python. We create tools to enable researchers to explore their data and display it in different formats through easily accessible web portals, for use by them and their research partners.

Support and collaboration

We can supply all the data acquisition and modelling for a project, or work alongside researchers to help them retrieve and explore their data more efficiently, enabling them to make best use of their research time and gain additional computational knowledge and skills.

Ideally, researchers include CEMAC in grant proposals, liaising with us at an early stage to ensure we can draw the right skills together to support their projects. We have well-established relationships with key partners in the field, such as the UK Met Office and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science.

You can find out more about some of the projects in which we’ve been involved on the showcase page here

Undergraduate training

We also maintain and manage a Jupiter notebook server, which is used by 12 academics from the School of Earth and Environment in their undergraduate teaching. The server underpins Python training which is delivered to all first-year undergraduate students in the School, teaching them how to use the tool to solve environmental questions.