Mike Byrne
climate scientist | extreme temperatures, atmospheric dynamics, water cycle | Reader @ U. St Andrews, PhD from MIT | he/him | 🇮🇪 in 🏴
sites.google.com/view/climate-dynami…
- Reposted by Mike ByrneIn a warming climate, extreme cold can still occur. The occurrence of an extreme cold event does not mean that climate change caused it, nor does it mean climate change isn't real. But on sufficiently long timescales, extreme cold events are occurring less often. doi.org/10.1126/scia...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneResearch Assistant position closing 25th: my.corehr.com/pls/nuimrecr... to work on the @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social contract on access to global land meteorological holdings.
- Great to be back @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social to present a seminar on understanding the physics of climate change over land. Catching 'Playboy of the Western World' @nationaltheatre.org.uk is an added bonus!
- Reposted by Mike Byrne2025 was an exceptional year for the Earth's climate ⬆️ Warmest ocean heat content ⬆️ Tied as second warmest surface temps ⬆️ Second warmest troposphere ⬆️ Record high sea level and GHGs ⬇️ Record low winter Arctic ice New State of the Climate over at Carbon Brief: www.carbonbrief.org/...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneAI does math proofs. Very interesting thread from a top mathematician. mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1158558...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneThis study shows that the tropical meridional surface #temperature gradient remains stable across a wide range of climates. This robust feature is maintained by solar radiation and tropical dynamics and provides a fundamental law to study #ClimateChange. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Heavy snowfall events will occur throughout the 21st century, despite global warming ❄️⛄⛷️ Reason is non-intuitive and relates to the existence of an 'optimal' temp for heavy snow that is insensitive to warming (details: www.nature.com/articles/nat...) #climate #snow www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneOpen full Professor position in beautiful Scotland…
- Fancy working somewhere with views like this less than a 10 min walk from your office? Are you an outstanding scholar of international standing within the field of Earth and environmental sciences? This could be the job for you: www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
- Tropical Temperature Distributions Over a Wide Range of Climates 🌡️🥵 Using theory + sims, we explore how temperature PDFs respond to climate change over land vs ocean. Work led by Josh Duffield! @earthscista.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social @ametsoc.org journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneStarting 2026 with a bang, our paper is published! 🎉🎉🎉 In it, we explored how polar amplification depends on the underlying climate state, with implications for understanding the past and future evolution of polar climate change! Enjoy! :) agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL118423
- Under climate change, the polar regions warm *faster* than the rest of the world ("polar amplification", PA). But, is this always the case? In this preprint (with Tim Merlis) we studied the 'state-dependence' of PA—feedback welcomed! :) andrewilwilliams.github.io/papers/pa_widerange_main.pdf
- Reposted by Mike ByrneAnd speaking of future heatwaves. New paper alert! A tour de force by my (now former) PhD student Adam Bauer. We introduce SMACM (Soil Moisture Atmosphere Coupled Model): a simple(ish) nonlinear Hasselman model to explain the non-linear relationship between temperature and soil moisture.
- Reposted by Mike ByrneThis is interesting -- and has parallels in physics and climate science w.r.t. the balance between science for understanding and skillful prediction. Comments @alisabokulich.bsky.social?
- 🚨Professorship at St Andrews🚨 We are recruiting a Professor in Earth Sci (incl atmos, oceans, climate) @earthscista.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social Ideal candidate is a leading researcher with interests in impact/outreach. Deadline 23/3/26! www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
- Reposted by Mike Byrne2025 goes down as the ~3rd-warmest year on record (based on ERA5). Like in 2024, every single day this past year was warmer than the average of even the most recent reference period (1991-2020).
- Reposted by Mike ByrneIt is likely that 2025 will be the warmest year on record for the UK. Why does this matter? Burning fossil fuels is warming the planet, including the UK, causing heatwaves to get hotter. For Central England this is happening 2x faster than the mean change. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Reposted by Mike Byrne“NCAR has played a greater role in advancing weather prediction & atmospheric modeling than perhaps any other single entity in the world,” says @weatherwest.bsky.social Dismantling NCAR would be “like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.” KH
- Reposted by Mike Byrne📣 LEAP IS HIRING! 📣 Spread the word - we're looking to add to our Data + Compute team! ▶️ APPLY TODAY: academic.careers.columbia.edu#!/174775
- Reposted by Mike ByrneLinking persistence, predictability and extremes in a changing climate PhD project through @iapetusdtp.bsky.social with me, @drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social, Nick Dunstone (Met Office) & Chris Taylor (CEH) iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
- Reposted by Mike Byrne📢Submit to our EGU session!📢 We are organizing a session at EGU 2026 in Vienna, with a focus on climate sensitivity, radiative feedbacks and the pattern effect! If you work on anything related to climate sensitivity, we'd love to have you! 🥳🥳🥳 Submit soon! :)
- Excited to attend the inaugural Scottish Climate Conference! Organised by @annamackie.bsky.social and Alex Chaudhri, the event will take place over the next two days @earthscista.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social #climate #science
- Reposted by Mike ByrneA polar vortex of confusion simonleewx.com/2025/11/20/a...
- We are convening an EGU 2026 session on the large-scale atmospheric circulation in past, present and future climates! Always a fun and vibrant session, abstract deadline is 15th Jan 💨🌎 meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU26/sessio...
- FWIW, here's the scientifically bankrupt image provided by ChatGPT when prompted by the session name... 🫣
- 🚨🌡️🔥🌍🌤️🚨 New paper alert in J. Climate from the Climate Dynamics Lab @earthscista.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social: Tropical temperature distributions over a wide range of climates: theory and idealized simulations journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...
- Apparently Hurricane Melissa was "engineered" as part of a land-clearing plot to build smart cities in Jamaica 🤔 Here is my attempt, via BBC Verify, to douse this conspiracy nonsense with some science facts: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c9...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneTrends in October temperatures over land areas for the last 50 years... Data from www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/lan...
- Excited to be visiting @universityofleeds.bsky.social today! I will discuss our research on the physics of tropical land in a changing climate, including hot-off-the-server results suggesting a drier future than climate models predict @earthandenvleeds.bsky.social @earthscista.bsky.social
- Nice piece in @uk.theconversation.com by Nadir Jeevanjee about early models and their visionary predictions of climate change fingerprints (incl polar amp, land-ocean contrast, strato cooling). Also a timely homage to GFDL, driver of these early predictions 🌍 theconversation.com/5-forecasts-...
- We had a fantastic research 'away day' at East Sands in St Andrews, where we discussed the future of extreme temperatures as part of GLOBAL-EX project. A lunchtime swim + cheese toasties on the beach was an added bonus! @erc.europa.eu @ukri.org @earthscista.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
- Reposted by Mike Byrne“Human health can be seriously affected by high heat and humidity. Such a dramatic increase in the occurrence of these humid-heat events is bringing more societies into challenging, potentially life-threatening, situations.” - Dr. Kate Willett @metoffice.gov.uk #ClimateEmergency 🥵
- Scotland is under a wildfire warning 🔥🌡️, fuelled by a very dry spring. I talked to BBC World at One about wildfires in Scotland which involve humans behaving badly, grouse shooting, and more than a hint of climate change. From 27min 25sec: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... @earthscista.bsky.social
- Reposted by Mike ByrneTwo new exciting job opportunities at @universityofleeds.bsky.social machine-learning forecasting for West Africa. ML is revolutionising forecasting, so this is a major opportunity. jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneWorth pointing out that thunderstorms and hail are very much not “unseasonal” in summer as reported here (hail isn’t wintry weather!) but quite dramatic scenes in Dundee and environs today www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Reposted by Mike Byrne"The Climate Change Committee, the government’s statutory adviser, has repeatedly highlighted a lack of urgent effort to adapt critical infrastructure, from water, transport and communication networks, to the fabric of our buildings" www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
- Deeply honoured that our research has been cited in the new DOE climate report
- AI in the DOE report? This ref (p29) is fake: Lee, S., Byrne, M. P., Loikith, P. C., & O’Dell, C. W. (2024). Zonal contrasts of the tropical Pacific climate predicted by a global constraint. Climate Dynamics, 62(1–2), 229–246. doi:10.1007/s00382-023-06741-7 www.realclimate.org/index.php/ar...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneUnprecedented continental drying since 2002 based on satellite data and dominated by high-latitude water losses, intense Central American/European #drought & groundwater depletion: doi.org/10.1126/scia... Consistent with earlier work: doi.org/10.1007/s107...
- Reposted by Mike Byrne📣 New paper: 💧💧💧 In July 2021 record breaking rainfall hit western Europe, we use ensemble boosting to explore different plausible storylines. These show it could have rained for longer, or over a larger area, or in a different place. Are we prepared? doi.org/10.1038/s432...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneThe Western Mediterranean has been record warm recently, shown here for the June averages from ERA5. This much warmth in the Mediterranean may predict a brutally hot summer for Europe. 1/ 🧵🧪🌊
- As the UK prepares for an extended heatwave over coming days, interesting new @natgeosci.nature.com research suggests longer heatwaves as climate warms #climate #heatwave www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Mike Byrne1°C of global warming does NOT mean that heatwaves 'just' get hotter by 1°C. Over large parts of the UK, global warming means that heatwaves are 3-4°C warmer, with worse consequences for people and ecosystems.
- Reposted by Mike ByrneWestern Europe summer high temperatures have increased ~2.6 °C (4.7 °F) during just the last 50 years. That's in a world with only 1.4 °C of global warming.
- Reposted by Mike ByrneSome forecast models are showing the potential for record-breaking heat in the UK later in June 🌡️ Ensemble forecasts can help us better understand the extremes of the current climate. @hayleyjfowler.bsky.social, Paul Davies and I wrote about this last year theconversation.com/the-climate-...
- Not a bad backdrop for pondering science at the Simons Symposium for Multi-Scale Physics ⚛️ I will be talking today about "Large-scale and local-scale influences on tropical land climate" www.simonsfoundation.org/event/multi-...
- Great to be visiting beautiful @ethz.ch for a few days of science! I will be presenting a seminar on elevation-dependent warming followed by examining a PhD on the water cycle in a changing climate 💦🌡️🌤️
- Reposted by Mike ByrneNew #FATESmodel postdoc in Oslo! Come and join our team :) www.jobbnorge.no/en/available... Postdoctoral Research Fellow in terrestrial carbon cycle modelling (281332) | University of Oslo
- Reposted by Mike ByrneHarvard president receives standing ovation during commencement.
- Reposted by Mike ByrneMy friend is in charge of the team that wrote the climate change adaptation plan for Switzerland and this is one of the things they expected.
- Wonderful to be back (at a very soggy) @harvard.edu for the Continental Climate Workshop, where I gave a talk about elevation-dependent warming over land. It has been a bittersweet visit, given the unsettling and escalating situation at Harvard. Thinking about all those affected 🌍
- Attending the amazing 'Philosophy of Climate Science' workshop @uniofstandrews.bsky.social this week! Today I gave a talk on 'Theory and the future of (land-)climate science'. Want to know more? Checkout the paper: rdcu.be/dWEZI @earthscista.bsky.social @standrewsphil.bsky.social
- Reposted by Mike Byrne⚒️ Article: Super-Clausius-Clapeyron scaling of extreme precipitation explained by shift from stratiform to convective rain type @leibniz-zmt.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneAs summer in the Northern Hemisphere approaches, it is important to keep in mind how temperatures are changing 🌡️ Shifting distribution to the right ➡️ increasing societal risks from extreme heat The driver? Humans... The burning of fossil fuels Visualization created by NASA svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5452/
- Reposted by Mike ByrneWet-bulb temperature extremes (WTEs) are a growing and serious threat to human & animal health. In agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... we show WTEs occur preferentially over wet soils, often after rain. Mesoscale circulations concentrate moist warm air in a shallower boundary layer.
- Exciting @egu.eu for the Climate Dynamics Lab next week! Four talks to check out: Mon, 8.35-8.45: Josh Duffield – Tropical temperature distributions over a range of climates Tue, 8.55-9.05: Anna Mackie – Circulation and cloud responses to patterned SST warming [1/2]
- Tue, 17.10-17.20: Anna Mackie – Cloud-circulation coupling in convection-permitting simulations Wed, 9.15-9.25: Tim Marino (collaborator based @ensdelyon.bsky.social) – Climate change induced by equatorial superrotation Enjoy the conference, wish I was there! [2/2]
- Hot off the press! New GRL paper from our group, led by Anna Mackie: Circulation and Cloud Responses to Patterned SST Warming @agu.org @uniofstandrews.bsky.social doi.org/10.1029/2024...
- Super fun to be part of this study with Tim and @corentinherbert.bsky.social on the climate response to forced atmospheric superrotation. Climate warms for interesting reasons, with potential implications for understanding feedbacks between climate and superrotation through Earth's history
- We have a new preprint out about the impacts a transition to equatorial superrotation would have on Earth's climate, e.g. in terms of surface temperature and water cycle. First PhD paper of Tim Marino, with @drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2504.06909
- Hey climate folks! For fun, my group is exploring using XAI methods to advance understanding of the climate system. We're at a very very early stage with this, so asking for recommendations of insightful papers to help us develop our ideas. What XAI climate papers have impressed you? Cheers! 🌍🤖💻
- Fresh off the press: Our new review article on the water cycle in a changing climate, led by the indefatigable (but bluesky-less) Hugo Lambert. Enjoy! @uniofstandrews.bsky.social wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
- Great to be visiting @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social in glorious sunshine! Today I will be giving the Global Change seminar in the School of GeoSciences where I will discuss dynamical constraints on tropical climate change over land 🌡️☀️
- Reposted by Mike ByrneI'm on the Scientific Organising Committee. Should be some great science and some early CMIP7 results to discuss. It's community driven - so we need you to put forward session proposals that you would like to convene. Looking forward to seeing folk in Japan. Should be a good one. 👇
- 🚨 #CMIP Community Workshop 2026 🚨 🌏 Kyoto Japan, 9-13th March 2026 Call for Session Proposals are now open : 📅 Session Proposal Deadline: 12:00 UTC, 25 April 2025 🔗 wcrp-cmip.org/cmip26-sessi... @wcrp-cmip.org
- Reposted by Mike ByrneBanger of a quote from Chris Bretherton... "... No amount of clever technology can cover the gap that is forming. “Artificial intelligence,” he says, “cannot compensate for a lack of human intelligence.”..." www.science.org/content/arti...
- Delighted to be in stunning Monte Verita for an @ethzurich.bsky.social workshop on drought! In a keynote talk today, I will discuss current our current understanding of land temperature and humidity in a changing climate
- Reposted by Mike Byrne
2024 was the warmest year in about one third (32%) of the planet on the dataset record (since 1979), and the warmest year for all continental regions except Australasia and Antarctica. Read the Global Climate Highlights 2024 report: bit.ly/40kQpcz #C3S - Reposted by Mike ByrneJust under 3 weeks left to apply to this exciting cross-disciplinary fully-funded PhD project on the dynamics of Southern Ocean atmosphere-ocean interactions, with @gmacgilchrist.bsky.social, @drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social and myself @uniofstandrews.bsky.social 🌊🏴🧪 www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/fees-a...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneWildfires drive record leap in global level of climate-heating CO2 - Data for 2024 shows humanity is moving yet deeper into a dangerous world of supercharged extreme weather #climatecrisis Story by me www.theguardian.com/environment/...
- Reposted by Mike Byrne🚨 5 fully-funded PhDs across climate, oceans, atmosphere @uniofstandrews.bsky.social 🚨 Join the dynamic and growing COASt (Climate, Oceans, and Atmosphere @ St Andrews) research group to explore a wide range of problems in #Climate Project titles and links below!
- Reposted by Mike ByrneWhere has it warmed the most and the least? Observed warming has not been uniform and matches well the pattern that climate models predict 1. Warming has been greatest over the northern polar regions 2. Warming is generally greater over land than over the oceans
- Reposted by Mike ByrneHere's my visual explanation of why we have not yet reached 1.5°C even though 2024 was likely warmer than 1.5°C. 2024 shows us how close we are, but the underlying warming is still under 1.5°C.
- Reposted by Mike Byrne"Hydroclimate volatility on a warming Earth" by @weatherwest.bsky.social, @climate-guy.bsky.social, @manuelaibrunner.bsky.social, @climatechirper.bsky.social et al. nature.com/articles/s43... Global-averaged subseasonal & interannual whiplash have increased 31–66% & 8–31% since the mid-20thC
- Reposted by Mike ByrneClimate change is one of the forces driving California’s wildfires, say government scientists. www.bbc.com/news/article...
- Horrific scenes in LA. Wildfires are escalating due to climate change, in part because land relative humidity is decreasing and is expected to further decrease over coming decades www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...
- Lots of exciting, fully-funded PhDs available @uniofstandrews.bsky.social! Please share and get in touch of interested
- Six fully-funded PhD projects in Earth & Environmental Sciences at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social including "Westerly winds overturning oceans" with supervision from @gmacgilchrist.bsky.social, @drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social and myself 🌬️🌊 www.findaphd.com/phds/?PhDLis...
- Fully-funded PhD @uniofstandrews.bsky.social to work on clouds, circulation, and climate. Come join us! Application deadline 24 Jan
- Fully-funded PhD at U. St Andrews: Connecting warming patterns to clouds – the role of atmospheric circulation Join the Climate Dynamics Lab in beautiful St Andrews! Please RP and get in touch for further info. Apply here: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/postgr... Deadline: 24 Jan 2025
- 2 x fully-funded PhDs available @uniofstandrews.bsky.social combining climate models and machine learning. Come join us! Application deadline 24 Jan
- 2 x funded PhDs at U St Andrews (with @ncas-uk.bsky.social). Open to UK and int. students, combination of climate models & ML techniques. Please share! Project 1: drive.google.com/file/d/1N4u3... Project 2: drive.google.com/file/d/1t61x... Apply by 24/1/2025: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/postgr...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneNew paper - Emerging influence of the Australian Monsoon on Indian Ocean interannual variability in a warming climate, by Mengyan Chen et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Mike Byrneagupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... (with Giulio Mandorli, Claudia Stubenrauch, @aikovoigt.bsky.social ) Cloud radiative heating intensifies as clouds move upward
- Nice article on an interesting #cloud study
- Latest from #AGU24: That reduced cloud cover that contributed to 2023 and 2024's record temps? It could be part of a worrying long-term trend of cloud loss, now spotted in observations over the past two decades. *If* this is a feedback to global warming, it is stronger than anticipated. A big if!
- Reposted by Mike ByrneNew paper @natclimchange.bsky.social finds that humid heat during the 2024 Hajj pilgrimage neared human tolerance limits. Analysis (by the Lethal Humidity Council, including CCRC’s Steven Sherwood and Katrin Meissner @katrinmeissner.bsky.social) warns further warming would threaten more people.
- Reposted by Mike ByrneLate-breaking job ad for a tenure-track position in climate science (broadly defined) at Harvard. The committee will start reviewing applications on January 21, 2025. Please share with interested candidates. academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/14496
- Reposted by Mike ByrneOne in four English properties will be affected by flood risk by mid-century. This is up from between one in five and six under previous estimates. The Environment Agency has updated its models to properly take account of climate change (harder than it sounds…) on.ft.com/3ZIN3OS
- Reposted by Mike ByrneSix fully-funded PhD projects in Earth & Environmental Sciences at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social including "Westerly winds overturning oceans" with supervision from @gmacgilchrist.bsky.social, @drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social and myself 🌬️🌊 www.findaphd.com/phds/?PhDLis...
- Reposted by Mike ByrneNew climate science faculty post going in the great Earth Sciences dept here at Oxford. Details below...
