An external view of the Met Office building at night.

Prof Jim Haywood

Jim is engaged in measurement and modelling aerosols and their impacts on radiation, clouds, visibility and air-quality.

Areas of expertise

  • Aerosol measurements;

  • Aerosol modelling;

  • Aerosol radiative forcing of climate;

  • Modelling potential impacts of geoengineering scenarios;

  • Impact of aviation on climate.

Publications by Jim Haywood

Current activities

Jim is a Research Fellow engaged in wide-ranging aspects of aerosol research.  Jim has interests that include in-situ and remote sensing measurements of atmospheric aerosols and modelling their impacts upon weather, air-quality, visibility and climate. Jim has led many aircraft-based measurement campaigns investigating the impacts of Saharan dust over West Africa, biomass burning smoke over West and South Africa, pollution aerosols over Europe, and volcanic aerosols from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption. Modelling work that Jim has performed includes assessment of the climate impact of various different anthropogenic and natural aerosols, modelling the impact of volcanic eruptions, and the impacts of hypothetical schemes to counter global warming. Jim has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in the scientific literature including publications in Science, Nature, and Reviews of Geophysics. He has received a number of national and international commendations and awards for his work. Jim has been an author of the IPCC Scientific Assessment Reports since 2001; the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts.

Jim improves the representation of aerosols and their associated radiative impacts in climate and in numerical weather prediction models. Recently, he has been assessing the potential impacts of proposed geoengineering ideas, the impact of contrail-induced-cirrus on climate, and the impacts of the Sarychev volcanic eruption.  Jim has recently been investigating the albedo/climate effects of black carbon deposition on snow.

Jim was the Met Office Principal Investigator of the FAAM aircraft for these measurement campaigns targeting industrial, biomass burning, and mineral dust aerosol:

  • SAFARI-2000 (Namibia, 2000)
  • SHADE (Cape Verde Islands, 2000)
  • ADRIEX (Po Valley, Italy, 2004)
  • DABEX (Niger, 2006)
  • DODO (Senegal, 2006)
  • GERBILS (Mauritania and Niger, 2007). 

He is currently involved in many domestic measurement campaigns such as VISibility in URBan environments (VISURB) which led to improved parameterization for aerosol and visibility in the UK forecast models, and the COntrailS evolving Into Cirrus (COSIC) measurement campaign which are joint ventures between the Met Office and UK university communities.

Career background

Jim joined the Met Office in 1998 and worked as a scientist, senior scientist and aerosol research manager before being promoted to Research Fellow in 2008. His work spans across various research departments in the Met Office. Before joining the Met Office Jim was a PDRA at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, USA for two years where he modelled the impact of aerosols in cloud resolving, and coupled atmosphere ocean models. Prior to that Jim completed his Phd at the University of Reading in 1995 investigating the radiative forcing of sulphate and black carbon aerosols.

External recognition

  • Associate Editor: Journal of Geophysical Research.
  • Lead Author, IPCC, 1999.
  • Lead Author, IPCC, 2001.
  • Lead Author, IPCC, 2007.
  • NOAA Oceans and Atmospheric Research: Outstanding Paper Award, 2000.
  • AMS Henry G. Houghton award, 2004.
  • IPCC: Nobel Peace Prize, 2007.
  • Atmospheric Science Librarians International awards for publications, 2007; 2009.