Popular Science

Effective science communication is crucial for translating complex research into public understanding, especially for issues like climate change. Promoting climate literacy empowers individuals and communities to take informed action against this global challenge. While English dominates scientific discourse, I've found very little climate and weather information available in Malayalam, my regional language. Therefore, I've chosen to write in Malayalam to broaden the reach within the local community, and fill this significant content gap. By this, I hope to inspire more people to participate in climate solutions and work towards a sustainable future..

Popular science articles (in regional language)

1. Climate change and wildfires
   This explores how global warming is becoming more conducive for more extremes, in particular wildfires, in the context of LA wildfires in 2025 January. It discusses about how the excess rainfall episode followed by extreme drought events (climate whiplash) provided an ideal environment for the LA fires. Risks from these compound extremes are highly like to increase more in the future.

2. 100 years of Richardson's dream
   The book titled 'Weather Prediction by Numerical Process' by Lewis Richardson is one of the ground-breaking contributions in meteorology. Published in 1922, it outlined the fundamental framework of the modern-day numerical weather prediction method. This article explores the visionary work of Lewis Richardson and his dream of realizing weather prediction through numerical methods.

2. Eye of a tropical cyclone
   The eye of a tropical cyclone is one of the most spectacular features of the storm. A location through which the storm passes would undergo a rapid succession of weather conditions within a short timeframe. This article is about tropical cyclones and the center of the storm. It takes the readers through an event that happened in 1926 at the Miami coast.

3. Red, Orange, and Yellow alerts
   Compared to conventional weather forecasts, impact-based forecasts can prove more effective, especially when dealing with high-impact weather systems. These forecasts are more effective at conveying the potential severity of an event. This article describes various alerts and the purpose of impact-based forecasting.

4. Climate change and rainfall variability in Kerala, India
   Kerala, a state in the southern peninsular India is experiencing significant changes in rainfall pattern during the monsoon season. Events such as 'mini-cloudbusts' are becoming more frequent these days. This article outlines some of the interesting findings from a recent study that highlights the presence of deep convective clouds in the west coast of India, which is no so common during the summer monsoon season.

5. Orographic rainfall
   The mechanism of orographic rainfall, that is, how the presence of a high terrain helps in the initiation of deep convection and eventually to precipitation.

6. Indian monsoon and floods
   Does a forecast of above-average rainfall during a monsoon season in India is always a danger signal in terms of flooding? This article tries to describe extreme rainfall episodes, which often lead to flash floods.

7. Supercomputers in weather and climate science: Eniac to Summit
   Whether it's a short-range weather forecast or a projection for the end of the century, the heart of these tasks lies in high-performance computers. This article explores the pivotal role of parallel computing and HPCs in advancing various aspects of weather and climate science.

8. WMO provisional statement on the state of global climate in 2019
   This article briefly outlines the key findings from the report from World Meteorological Organization for the year 2019.

9. Lorenz's butterflies and weather prediction
   This is a comprehensive article that explores numerical weather prediction methods. It covers the fundamentals of weather models, discretization, observations and data assimilation, chaos theory and the butterfly effect, ensemble prediction methods, and long-range predictions.
   
   

10. Interannual variabilities of Indian summer monsoon: ENSO and IOD
    The El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Indian Ocean Dipole are two major climate modes that exert a significant influence on the variability of Indian summer monsoon rainfall. This article elucidates how these phenomena impact the typical circulation patterns, thereby affecting monsoon rainfall in India.

A course on weather and climate modeling

The online science portal LUCA (KSSP) offered a comprehensive online course on the science of climate change covering all major topics related to climate and climate change. Here are the links to YouTube videos on Weather and Climate Modeling in four parts. The content explores early prediction methods, atmospheric models, chaos and butterfly effect, long-term prediction methods, analyzing climate model outputs, and limitations of models.

• Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpnRcDcP-FU     (Historical development, atmospheric models)

• Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYRWrU_uq5E   (Chaos and butterfly effect, ensemble predictions)

• Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfbr1RNlFBk       (Long-term predictions, Climate models - history)

• Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4EZnaunKPo    (Future scenarios, CMIP, Model analysis, limitations)