John Turner

Variability Climatologist

John Turner

Contact

John Turner

Biography

I have been a meteorologist for over 40 years, first at the Met. Office and since 1986 at the British Antarctic Survey. I have a B.Sc in Meteorology and Physics and a Ph.D in Antarctic Climate Variability. At the Met. Office I was involved in the development of numerical weather prediction models, satellite meteorology and operational weather forecasting, while at BAS I have carried out research into high-latitude precipitation, polar lows, teleconnections between the Antarctic and lower latitudes and weather forecasting in the Antarctic.

I have had a long involvement with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and have been active in several SCAR committees. I’m currently a member of the Antarctic Climate 2100 (AntClim21) Steering Committee and chair the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment Advisory Group.

I’ve also been heavily involved with the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) and was President of the IAMAS International Commission on Polar Meteorology from 1995 to 2003. I’m currently the President of IAMAS.

I have been awarded the International Journal of Climatology Prize of the Royal Meteorological Society and the SCAR Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research.

Research interests

Tropical – high latitude climate linkages

Sea ice variability and change

Antarctic climate change

High latitude weather systems

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

2018

(2018) The State of the Polar Oceans 2018.

Meredith, Michael, Sundfjord, Arild, Henson, Stephanie, Meijers, Andrew, Murphy, Eugene, Bellerby, Richard, Daase, Malin, Cottier, Finlo, Belchier, Mark, Chierici, Melissa, Ellingsen, Ingrid, Falk-Petersen, Stig, Hill, Simeon, Holland, Paul, Tarling, Geraint, Trathan, Phil, Turner, John, Wilkinson, Jeremy, Batchellier, Layla, Capper, Linda, Oliver, Jamie. (2018) The state of the polar oceans 2018: making sense of our changing world. Cambridge, British Antarctic Survey, 14 pp.

Deb, Pranab, Orr, Andrew, Bromwich, David H., Nicolas, Julien P., Turner, John, Hosking, J. Scott. (2018) Summer drivers of atmospheric variability affecting ice shelf thinning in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 45. 4124-4133. 10.1029/2018GL077092

Turner, John, Nakajima, Teruyuki. (2018) Report on IAMAS Activity since 2015 and the IAPSO-IAMAS-IAGA Scientific Assembly—Good Hope For Earth Sciences. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, 35. 371-375. 10.1007/s00376-017-7240-x

2017

Cavanagh, Rachel D., Murphy, Eugene J., Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Turner, John, Knowland, Cheryl A., Corney, Stuart P., Smith, Walker O., Waluda, Claire M., Johnston, Nadine M., Bellerby, Richard G.J., Constable, Andrew J., Costa, Daniel p., Hofmann, Eileen E., Jackson, Jennifer A., Staniland, Iain J., Wolf-Gladrow, Dieter, Xavier, Jose C.. (2017) A synergistic approach for evaluating climate model output for ecological applications. Frontiers in Marine Science, 4. 10.3389/fmars.2017.00308

Turner, John, Comiso, Josefino. (2017) Solve Antarctica’s sea-ice puzzle. Nature, 547. 275-277. 10.1038/547275a

Turner, John, Phillips, Tony, Marshall, Gareth J., Hosking, J. Scott, Pope, James O., Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Deb, Pranab. (2017) Unprecedented springtime retreat of Antarctic sea ice in 2016. Geophysical Research Letters, 44. 6868-6875. 10.1002/2017GL073656

Turner, John, Gudmundsson, Hilmar. (2017) Warm waters in West Antarctica. Eos. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EO074785

Turner, John, Hosking, J. Scott, Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Phillips, Tony, Marshall, Gareth J.. (2017) Variability and trends in the Southern Hemisphere high latitude, quasi-stationary planetary waves. International Journal of Climatology, 35. 2325-2336. doi:10.1002/joc.4848

Lu, Hua, Scaife, Adam A., Marshall, Gareth J., Turner, John, Gray, Lesley J.. (2017) Downward wave reflection as a mechanism for the stratosphere-troposphere response to the 11-year Solar Cycle. Journal of Climate, 30. 2395-2414. 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0400.1

Turner, John, Orr, Andrew, Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar, Jenkins, Adrian, Bingham, Robert G., Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter, Bracegirdle, Thomas J.. (2017) Atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica. Reviews of Geophysics, 55. 235-276. doi:10.1002/2016RG000532

Comiso, Josefino C., Gersten, Robert A., Stock, Larry V., Turner, John, Perez, Gay J., Cho, Kohei. (2017) Positive trend in the Antarctic sea ice cover and associated changes in surface temperature. Journal of Climate, 30. 2251-2267. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0408.1

Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy, Ahmad Mazuki, Muhammad Yunus, Turner, John, Samah, Azizan Abu. (2017) Historical and projected changes in the Southern Hemisphere Sub-tropical Jet during winter from the CMIP5 models. Climate Dynamics, 48. 661-681. doi:10.1007/s00382-016-3102-y

2016

Hunt, George L., Drinkwater, Kenneth F., Arrigo, Kevin, Berge, Jørgen, Daly, Kendra L., Danielson, Seth, Daase, Malin, Hop, Haakon, Isla, Enrique, Karnovsky, Nina, Laidre, Kristin, Mueter, Franz J., Murphy, Eugene J., Renaud, Paul E., Smith, Walker O., Trathan, Philip, Turner, John, Wolf-Gladrow, Dieter. (2016) Advection in polar and sub-polar environments: Impacts on high latitude marine ecosystems. Progress in Oceanography, 149. 40-81. doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2016.10.004

Turner, John, Lu, Hua, White, Ian, King, John C., Phillips, Tony, Hosking, J. Scott, Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Marshall, Gareth J., Mulvaney, Robert, Deb, Pranab. (2016) Absence of 21st century warming on Antarctic Peninsula consistent with natural variability. Nature, 535. 411-415. doi:10.1038/nature18645

Turner, John, Hosking, J. Scott, Marshall, Gareth J., Phillips, Tony, Bracegirdle, Thomas J.. (2016) Antarctic sea ice increase consistent with intrinsic variability of the Amundsen Sea Low. Climate Dynamics, 46. 2391-2402. 10.1007/s00382-015-2708-9

Xavier, Jose C., Peck, Lloyd S., Fretwell, Peter, Turner, John. (2016) Climate change and polar range expansions: Could cuttlefish cross the Arctic?. Marine Biology, 163. doi:10.1007/s00227-016-2850-x

Bracegirdle, T.J., Bertler, N.A.N., Carleton, A.M., Ding, Q., Fogwill, C.J., Fyfe, J.C., Hellmer, H.H., Karpechko, A.Y., Kusahara, K., Larour, E., Mayewski, P.A., Meier, W.N., Polvani, L.M., Russell, J.L., Stevenson, S.L., Turner, J., van Wessem, J. M., van de Berg, W.J., Wainer, I.. (2016) A multi-disciplinary perspective on climate model evaluation for Antarctica. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 92. ES23-ES26. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00108.1

Deb, Pranab, Orr, Andrew, Hosking, J. Scott, Phillips, Tony, Turner, John, Bannister, Daniel, Pope, James O., Colwell, Steve. (2016) An assessment of the Polar Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model representation of near-surface meteorological variables over West Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 121. 1532-1548. 10.1002/2015JD024037

Hosking, J. Scott, Orr, Andrew, Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Turner, John. (2016) Future circulation changes off West Antarctica: Sensitivity of the Amundsen Sea Low to projected anthropogenic forcing. Geophysical Research Letters, 43. 367-376. 10.1002/2015GL067143

Raphael, M.N., Marshall, G. J., Turner, J., Fogt, R.L., Schneider, D., Dixon, D.A., Hosking, J.S., Jones, J.M., Hobbs, W.R.. (2016) The Amundsen Sea Low: Variability, change and impact on Antarctic climate. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 97. 111-121. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00018.1

van Wessem, J. M., Ligtenberg, S. R. M., Reijmer, C. H., van de Berg, W. J., van den Broeke, M. R., Barrand, N. E., Thomas, E. R., Turner, John, Wuite, J., Scambos, T. A., van Meijgaard, E.. (2016) The modelled surface mass balance of the Antarctic Peninsula at 5.5 km horizontal resolution. The Cryosphere, 10. 271-285. 10.5194/tc-10-271-2016

2015

Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Stephenson, David B., Turner, John, Phillips, Tony. (2015) The importance of sea ice area biases in 21st century multimodel projections of Antarctic temperature and precipitation. Geophysical Research Letters, 42. 10832-10839. 10.1002/2015GL067055

Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy, Turner, John, Samah, Azizan Abu. (2015) A strong wind event on the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica: A case study of scale interactions. Monthly Weather Review, 143. 4163-4180. doi:10.1175/MWR-D-15-0002.1

Turner, John, Hosking, J. Scott, Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Marshall, Gareth J., Phillips, Tony. (2015) Recent changes in Antarctic sea ice. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A, 373. 10.1098/rsta.2014.0163

Mayewski, P. A., Bracegirdle, T., Goodwin, I., Schneider, D., Bertler, N. A. N., Birkel, S., Carleton, A., England, M. H., Kang, J.-H., Khan, A., Russell, J., Turner, J., Velicogna, I.. (2015) Potential for Southern Hemisphere climate surprises. Journal of Quaternary Science, 30. 391-395. doi:10.1002/jqs.2794

Lu, Hua, Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Phillips, Tony, Turner, John. (2015) A comparative study of wave forcing derived from the ERA-40 and ERA-interim reanalysis data sets. Journal of Climate, 28. 2291-2311. 10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00356.1

2014

Orr, Andrew, Phillips, Tony, Webster, Stuart, Elvidge, Andy, Weeks, Mark, Hosking, Scott, Turner, John. (2014) Met Office unified model high resolution simulations of a strong wind event in Antarctica. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 140. 2287-2297. 10.1002/qj.2296

Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Turner, John, Hosking, J. Scott, Phillips, Tony. (2014) Sources of uncertainty in projections of 21st century westerly wind changes over the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica, in CMIP5 climate models. Climate Dynamics, 43. 2093-2104. 10.1007/s00382-013-2032-1

Meredith, Michael, Orr, Andrew, Shanklin, Jonathan, Turner, John, [and 126 others], . Ennis, Christine A. (eds.). (2014) Assessment for Decision-Makers: Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2014. Geneva, Switzerland, World Meteorological Organization, 46 pp. (Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project Report No. 56.)

Murphy, E.J., Clarke, A., Abram, N.J., Turner, J.. (2014) Variability of sea-ice in the northern Weddell Sea during the 20th century. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 119. 4549-4572. doi:10.1002/2013JC009511

Abram, Nerilie J., Mulvaney, Robert, Vimeux, Francoise, Phipps, Steven J., Turner, John, England, Matthew H.. (2014) Evolution of the Southern Annular Mode during the past millennium. Nature Climate Change, 4. 564-569. 10.1038/nclimate2235

Wang, Zhaomin, Turner, John, Sun, Bo, Li, Bingrui, Liu, Chengyan. (2014) Cyclone-induced rapid creation of extreme Antarctic sea ice conditions. Scientific Reports, 4. 6 pp. doi:10.1038/srep05317

Turner, John, Barrand, Nicholas E., Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Convey, Peter, Hodgson, Dominic A., Jarvis, Martin, Jenkins, Adrian, Marshall, Gareth, Meredith, Michael P., Roscoe, Howard, Shanklin, Jon, French, John, Goosse, Hugues, Guglielmin, Mauro, Gutt, Julian, Jacobs, Stan, Kennicutt, Marlon C., Masson-Delmotte, Valerie, Mayewski, Paul, Navarro, Francisco, Robinson, Sharon, Scambos, Ted, Sparrow, Mike, Summerhayes, Colin, Speer, Kevin, Klepikov, Alexander. (2014) Antarctic climate change and the environment: an update. Polar Record, 50. 237-259. doi:10.1017/S0032247413000296

2013

Turner, John, Hosking, J. Scott, Phillips, Tony, Marshall, Gareth J.. (2013) Temporal and spatial evolution of the Antarctic sea ice prior to the September 2012 record maximum extent. Geophysical Research Letters, 40. 5894-5898. doi:10.1002/2013GL058371

Thomas, Elizabeth R, Bracegirdle, Thomas J, Turner, John, Wolff, Eric W. (2013) A 308-year record of climate variability in West Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 40. 5492-5496. doi:10.1002/2013GL057782

Chenoli, Sheeba Nettukandy, Turner, John, Samah, Azizan Abu. (2013) A climatology of strong wind events at McMurdo station, Antarctica. International Journal of Climatology, 33. 2667-2681. doi:10.1002/joc.3617

Hosking, J. Scott, Orr, Andrew, Marshall, Gareth J., Turner, John, Phillips, Tony. (2013) The influence of the Amundsen–Bellingshausen Seas low on the climate of West Antarctica and its representation in coupled climate model simulations. Journal of Climate, 26. 6633-6648. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00813.1

Marshall, Gareth J., Orr, Andrew, Turner, John. (2013) A predominant reversal in the relationship between the SAM and East Antarctic temperatures during the Twenty-First Century. Journal of Climate, 26. 5196-5204. 10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00671.1

Turner, John, Phillips, Tony, Hosking, J. Scott, Marshall, Gareth J., Orr, Andrew. (2013) The Amundsen Sea low. International Journal of Climatology, 33. 1818-1829. doi:10.1002/joc.3558

Turner, John, Maksym, Ted, Phillips, Tony, Marshall, Gareth J., Meredith, Michael P.. (2013) The impact of changes in sea ice advance on the large winter warming on the western Antarctic Peninsula. International Journal of Climatology, 33. 852-861. doi:10.1002/joc.3474

Dash, Mihir K., Pandey, P.C., Vyas, N.K., Turner, John. (2013) Variability in the ENSO-induced southern hemispheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice extent. International Journal of Climatology, 33. 778-783. doi:10.1002/joc.3456

Turner, John, Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Phillips, Tony, Marshall, Gareth J., Hosking, J. Scott. (2013) An initial assessment of Antarctic Sea ice extent in the CMIP5 models. Journal of Climate, 26. 1473-1484. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00068.1