Some lovely evening light last week

First time out with the camera in a long time. Some lovely evening light over the fields #sharemondays2026

It's out. My latest feature for @science.org, from aboard the RRS Discovery: a deep look at the past, present, and future of AMOC, told through the RAPID program. AMOC is weakening -- maybe, probably. But it also may be more resilient than some have made it seem.

300 years ago today James Hutton, father of modern geology, was born. Last year I wrote about his observations at Siccar Point — a glimpse into the abyss of time which would transform how we think about the Earth's past, and liberate the imagination from all previous senses of beginnings and ends.

Today has been the hottest day in May on record with Kew Gardens provisionally reaching 34.8°C - exceeding the previous highest May temperature in the UK by a full 2 degrees Celsius🌡️ This heat would be exceptional in the UK even in mid summer, let alone in May📈

Holy cowbirds!

A general, a historian, and an economist are discussing Iran: General: Overwhelming military force is the only way to break the stalemate! Historian: Iran is extremely unlikely to relinquish the leverage which this threat gives them. Economist: Let us assume that the Strait of Hormuz is open...

Non-technical summary:

And here’s the eclipse photo from Artemis II. I am in tears.

Earthset from Artemis II. I am overcome.

Losing contact with the Earth for 40 minutes sounds ideal

right now the astronauts are calling houston because the computer on the spaceship is running two instances of microsoft outlook and they can't figure out why. nasa is about to remote into the computer

Here in the UK March has been warmer and sunnier than average. It has been very wet in the west of Scotland and north-west England and dry elsewhere. Here is a climate/weather #dataviz summary for the past year.

This is a cool paper, and I’m fairly confident the key point - climate impact (drivers) at 2 C could be substantially worse than the ensemble mean projection - is correct.

"To walk the road of peace, sometimes we must be prepared to climb the mountain of conflict"

Is this good?

Energy markets right now

If we could just raise sea levels by 150 meters we get a backup Strait of Hormuz

El Niño is coming, and it is shaping up to be a big one. Over at The Climate Brink I've put together a compilation of the latest forecasts by different modeling groups. They suggest that we might see an event comparable in strength to what we saw in 2016: www.theclimatebrink....

WHAT IF YOU JUST READ A FUCKING BOOK

Today we have published new analysis building on the Committee's advice on the UK’s Seventh Carbon Budget. Our conclusions about the cost of decarbonising the UK and impacts on energy security were tested against different scenarios ⬇️ Read the full report here: www.theccc.org.uk/publication/...

I’m grumpy about this paper, which has been poorly communicated in a way that’s taken up a bunch of my time this week and is the result of framing decisions in the paper itself.

Now for my last, soothing, bedtime check on The War so I can really lie awake and think about it

Amazing how much we knew about climate change back in 1965. And to realize this was clearly communicated to the highest levels of government when *my parents* were still teenagers.

the only place this should happen is academic conferences

BREAKING: UK govt auction secures 4.9GW new solar at £65/MWh and 1.3GW new onshore wind at £72/MWh, 13% and 21% below the price cap respectively. All due online by 2029.

How much will it cost the UK to reach an 87% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040? In a new letter, @thecccuk.bsky.social confirms about £4bn a year (£26bn a year of costs minus £22bn a year of savings). www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/u... 87% by 2040 is a stepping stone to net zero by 2050

🤯 Bloomberg: "China adds more power capacity in a year than most countries have total" www.bloomberg.com/ne...

Very enjoyable morning on Sunday in amongst the fascinating rocks near Langness Lighthouse

A fast moving coronal mass ejection (CME) means the northern lights may be visible overnight, and perhaps on Tuesday night too The arrival time of the CME is uncertain, but aurora sightings are possible in northern Britain and perhaps in southern areas depending on cloud cover.

Exciting opportunity for me to name drop the time in sat next to Princess Irene in an Italian restaurant in Bournemouth. My wife's great aunt was her (and her sister, Sofia) nanny and they all remained good friends. www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2...

Here's how Aurora Energy Research sees the UK offshore wind auction (AR7) cutting bills for consumers "£1bn by 2035" * CfD payments go up * Other costs go up (balancing, capacity mkt) * Wholesale prices go down * Overall costs go down www.linkedin.com/posts/ivan-b...

Globally, no single day in 2025 was cooler than its 1991-2020 average. climate.copernicus.eu/global-clima...

An image for #sharemondays2026. Very enjoyable start to the year's photography down at The Sound, an area I should visit more often (for photos, visit loads for cake!)

There we have it, 2025 was indeed a record breaking (warm) year for mean Central England Temperature (CET), this daily dataset going back nearly 300 years to 1772.

Scientists are supposed to be happy when their predictions are skillful, right? Why do I not feel happy?

Good news for photographers!

Such sad news. She was a brilliant scientist, a great science communicator and a real enthusiast for what universities can achieve #EmmaJohnston www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...

I think it’s easy to underestimate just how impressive this new map is. We can now see Europe at night in colour! This is mega!

Incoming waves on a pleasingly moody recent morning

Some epic cliff action at the superbly named The Chasms. 480 million year old submarine landslides (turbidites) for those that are interested!

Lovely moody and stormy conditions in Castletown a few days ago #sharemondays2025

Lovely sunset a couple of weeks ago

A beautiful sunrise overlooking Douglas lighthouse a couple of weeks ago 😍

Autumn colour in the Lakes. Challenging conditions but the trees are absolutely at their peak, beautiful to see #sharemondays2025

This is absolutely staggering.

Absolutely gorgeous evening at Niarbyl last Wednesday. We've actually had some amazing conditions for photography the past few days, the best in a very long time. I'm solo parenting for a week though, so I've been stuck inside looking enviously out the window 😭. #sharemondays2025 #fsprintmonday