NCASWeb People

Hooper, Dr David A

Instrument Scientist

STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

Harwell Oxford

Didcot

OX11 0QX

I'm one of the two deputy heads of the Atmospheric Measurement and Observation Facility (AMOF). I have a particular responsibility for the Capel Dewi Atmospheric Observatory (CDAO) in west Wales. My research interests are focused on the observations made from this site, particularly those made by the Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) Radar. These cover turbulence, clouds, atmospheric structure, and the mesosphere (i.e. the region of the atmosphere between altitudes of approximately 50 and 90 km, where Noctilucent Clouds occur).

I have been a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassador for over a decade. I've given presentations on various subjects to primary school students, secondary school students, and special interest groups. I'm particularly proud of the time-lapse videos that I have created from images captured by a Sky-Camera at the CDAO. These are freely available through the AMOF website. They are as relevant to students of atmospheric science as they are to interested members of the public.

Engagements

What: Publication of "Atmospheric Science" education/outreach poster - http://cedadocs.badc.rl.ac.uk/1259/ Where: not applicable For whom: for whoever is interested , December 2015
What: I gave a presentation on atmospheric refractive index and a tour of the NERC MST Radar site Where: NERC MST Radar site near Aberystwyth For Whom: approximately 20 members of the Aberystwyth Amateur Radio Club , June 2016
What: I gave a talk on "Ice Crystals At The Edge of Space", i.e. about Noctilucent Clouds Where: RAL Space Visitor Centre For Whom: approximately 25 students (a mix of Work Experience, Vacation, and other) , July 2016
What: I have a talk on "Angels and Mirages", i.e. about atmospheric refractive index Where: RAL Space Visitor Centre For Whom: approximately 16 students (a mix of Work Experience, Vacation, and other) , August 2016
What: Supervising a Work Experience student Where: RAL Space When Monday 1st - Friday 5th August 2016 For Whom: a single (15 year old) student , August 2015
What: I gave a presentation on "Winds, Waves, and Turbulence" i.e. on atmospheric convection and waves Where: RAL Space Visitor Centre For Whom: approximately 10 school pupils of mixed ages , August 2016
What: Publication of the first atmospheric science education/outreach time-lapse video at http://cedadocs.badc.rl.ac.uk/1271/. Where: not applicable. For whom: for whoever is interested , December 2016
What. I gave a presentation on the different types of cumulus clouds to 11 members of the Abingdon Sea Cadets group. They had specifically requested a weather-related talk. , February 2017
During 2017 I published 6 openly-accessible time-lapse videos of interesting atmospheric phenomena observed by the NERC MST Radar Facility's Sky Camera. http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1298/ - showing Cirrostratus clouds giving rise to a 22° Halo around the Sun. http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1301/ - showing the development of Cumulus congestus clouds, leading to a Rain Shower and a Rainbow. http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1308/ - showing Altocumulus clouds displaying both undulatus and lenticularis features http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1309/ - showing Altocumulus lenticularis clouds revealing Mountain Wave activity http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1310/ - showing widespread development of Cumulonimbus clouds, some of which have extensive Anvils http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1311/ - showing Cumulonimbus cloud development at sunset, August 2017
What: I gave a presentation on "A beginner's guide to cloud spotting". Where: STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory For Whom: approximately 18 school pupils of mixed ages, July 2017
What: I gave a presentation on "Ice Crystals at the Edge of Space", i.e. on Noctiluecnt Clouds. Where: STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory For whom: approximately 18 school pupils of mixed ages, July 2017
What: I gave a presentation on "Angels and Mirages", i.e. about atmospheric refractive index Where: STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory For whom: approximately 14 school pupils of mixed ages, August 2017
I gave a presentation entitled "Insect Autumn Watch" for approximately 22 year 6 primary school pupils on 10th September 2018. Although, admittedly, the talk was more about insects than about atmospheric science, it was focussed on how those insects adapt to the changing climate conditions of the autumn., September 2018
I gave a public lecture entitled "Kingdom of the Cumulus Clouds" as part of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory's Talking Science lecture programme for members of public - https://stfc.ukri.org/news-events-and-publications/whats-happening/kingdom-of-the-cumulus-clouds/ . The lecture was given twice in the same day and covered approximately 370 attendees in total. , March 2019
I gave a talk entitled “Mirages and Angels: the effects of atmospheric refractive index on electromagnetic waves” to the Reading and District Amateur Radio club. Approximately 40 people attended. , March 2019
During December 2019 I produced 5 time-lapse videos showing various atmospheric phenomena. These have been published through the CEDA document repository under a Creative Commons Attribution licence so that they can be used by anyone. They show: Cumulus humilis clouds (http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1454/), Cumulus mediocris clouds (http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1456/), Altocumulus fluctus and Altocumulus undulatus clouds (http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1462/), Stratocumulus clouds that develop asperitas features (http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1463/), and Altocumulus undulatus clouds (http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1464/)., December 2019
I ran a stall at the Stargazing 2020 event held at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. My stall was based on daily sunshine duration data from the NCAS Capel Dewi Atmospheric Observatory together with graphical resources that I have developed to explain what I was showing. The event was attended by approximately 800 people in total. It was open to members of the public., January 2020
During the 2020 year, I produced two openly-accessible educational/public engagement time-lapse videos. These made use of photos taken by the NCAS Noctilucent Cloud Camera at the Chilbolton Atmospheric Observatory. The videos are available from http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1481/ and http://cedadocs.ceda.ac.uk/1483/ . , July 2020
I released an open-access educational/public engagement video showing Crepuscular rays. This was made from photos taken by the Sky-Camera at the Capel Dewi Atmospheric Observatory. It is available from http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4782318, May 2021
I ran a STEM session for approximately 8 pupils at the Bledlow Ridge primary school. This was part of an after school club. The teacher had specifically requested an in-person rather than an online session since she thought that the pupils in this group (some of whom did not speak English as a first language) would benefit more from it. , November 2021
I gave an online presentation about "Ice crystals at the edge of space: the related phenomena of Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) and Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes (PMSEs)" to members of the British Astronomical Association (BAA), an organisation for amateur astronomers. This was for a combined session of the BAA's Radio Astronomy section and Aurora and NLC section. Forty people attended the live (albeit online) presentation and many more are expected to catch up on the recording, which is available at https://britastro.org/videos/ice-crystals-at-the-edge-of-space-clouds-and-polar-mesosphere-summer-echoes-and-noctilucent-cloud , March 2021
Spread over 2 sessions (on 22nd and 29th March 2022) I gave an online science presentation to 484 primary school pupils through STEM NOW's Curious Minds programme. It will be difficult to reach such a vast number of pupils once in-person STEM activities once again become the norm. However, most schools prefer in-person STEM activities. , March 2022
I was visiting a primary school primarily for an after school club. Since I was already there, the teacher asked me to help support a Year 5 science lesson whilst the pupils looked for invertebrates within the grounds of their school. The pupils were instructed to observe, describe, and record by drawing. My role was to draw their attention to anything interesting and to help with the identification of anything that was found (i have some expertise in this area; it wasn't just a random ask). The teacher in charge of the activity gave the following feedback: "Quite a few interesting things there for me - several new species, some I'd not even heard the name before!", June 2022
This activity involved supporting an extra-curricular primary school "Outdoor Explorers" club during a visit to a local wildflower meadow. It covered approximately 8 pupils. The task of the pupils was to observe and describe what they saw. My role was to draw their attention to anything of interest - both flowers and insects - and to help with identification. Since I had to travel to the school, I was also involved with another activity involving all year 5 pupils., June 2022
During 2022, Graham Parton and I acted as science consultants to artist Adrien Segal. The original scope of the project was “visualisation of wind data”. This eventually evolved into an earthwork entitled “cyclogenesis”: https://www.adriensegal.com/copy-of-california-water-rights . Note that the name of the link is a bit misleading. Moreover, none of the "engagement types" is at all appropriate for this type of activity and so I have arbitrarily chosen "Lectures/talks/debates". Since I am obliged to give a date for this activity, which was actually spread out across a period of months, I have given the date of my first interaction session with Adrien, which was (appropriately) the day that Storm Eunice brought gale force winds to southern Britain. , February 2022
During the 2022 calendar year, I set up a project for a school child, who was taking part in a Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. The "Volunteering" section now includes the option to participate in research. The project was an extension of the one I have previously run with work experience students, i.e. systematically looking through animations of sky-camera images and noting down anything of interest. I needed to modify my animation software in order to make this project possible. , April 2022

Hooper, Dr David A

Instrument Scientist

Publications

Engagements