The UK Climate Projections had a major upgrade in November of 2018 with the release of UKCP18. Projected climate changes over the 21st century include rising average temperatures, and a higher likelihood of extreme weather events such as heatwaves and flooding. As well as providing the most up-to date assessment of how the climate of the UK may change, UKCP18 is an open resource of five in-depth climate data sets that can be used as a tool for organisations to guide decision-making and boost resilience. In September, there will also be an additional dataset published (UKCP Local (2.2km)), providing better information on extreme events such as intense rainfall events that we experience in the UK in the summer.

A step by step guide to the Met Office UKCP18 User Interface

Before you begin….

You can access the UKCP18 data through three main entry points Web, User Interface and CEDA catalogue. We recommend that you visit the website first (https://ukclimateprojections.metoffice.gov.uk) to understand your data needs and the caveats and limitations of using the datasets. The CEDA Data Catalogue is only for those who are familiar with analysing large climate datasets.

This step by step document will guide you through the User Interface (UI) only. Whether you are familiar with the UKCP UI or not, we strongly recommend that you read the below information before you start:

 1. What is the UKCP UI and what do you want to do? 

 2. The Met Office recommends that you familiarise yourself with the material on the UKCP18 web pages at: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/collaboration/ukcp/ before you set up your account. You will find descriptions of the project, its scientific components, key results as well as guidance on appropriate uses of the data.

 3. Just want to read through the key messages, results and headline findings? Click here. 

Top Tip: Don’t miss the key results summary spreadsheet download link in the second paragraph. Also the summary maps in “land projection maps: probabilistic projections”.

 4. And most importantly… the User Interface is free to use, but you need an account to use the products. Sign-up here.

Top Tip: Always remember to check your junk folder for the activation e-mail.

Now let’s jump in…

 Now you know what the UKCP UI is and the data that you wish to look at or download, as well as created your account, let’s get started… 

Step 1

Sign Up / Log in here (the log in box is located on the top right of the web page). Once logged in, you are taken to the ‘My UKCP’ web page.

Step 2

Click the ‘products’ tab on the top of the web page, second tab from the left. The aim of this section is to show you all the various products to help establish what you need.

Step 3

To narrow down which UKCP 18 product you would like to use you can tick the relevant filter boxes running down the left-hand side of the web page. You can choose between land and marine projections, the RCP scenario and your preferred data format. 

Top Tips:

- Learn more about RCP’s (Representative Concentration Pathway) scenarios here

- A list of supporting documents to guide you through the UKCP18 projections as well as the science reports that underpin them can be found on the Met Office Guidance and Science Reports document.

- Download Dr Fai Fung’s (UKCP Climate Services Manager, Met Office) presentation from our event here: ‘UKCP18 climate projections and how to use them’

- For an overview of the differences between global, probabilistic and regional land projections read here or page 4 of this UKCP18 guidance on land projections

- The description of each projection title is soon to be updated as per the following; Probabilistic Projections, Global (60km) Projections, Regional (12km) and Local (2.2km) Projections. “Regional Projections” will be changed to “Regional (12km) and Local (2.2km)”.

Step 4

You will now see a reduced list of products based on your filters. Click the ‘submit a request’ button on your chosen product.

Step 5

You should now be taken to the next stage, the ‘select inputs’ page of the interface. You need to complete a series of tick boxes to select the climate variable, timescales, region, baseline period and emissions scenarios. Once you have ticked all the required boxes click ‘submit’.

Top Tip: Remember to choose your desired data format i.e. CSV.

Step 6 

Your data is now being prepared, depending on your specific requirements this can take up to a minute to load. Once the data is ready you will receive and e-mail confirming the successful job, you will also be taken to a web page where you can download your product.

Top Tips:

- If you would like to change your inputs, click the ‘edit inputs’ button located on the bottom right of the download web page to be directed back to the ‘select inputs’ section.

- Once finished, the resulting data will be saved under the ‘My Job’ page and can be downloaded as and when you need to access the product.

Questions? 

For clarification purposes and advice on how to locate the information you require you can contact the UKCP team directly. For questions around bespoke interpretation and help with analysis the team will refer you to other parts of the Met Office to discuss consultancy work.