Inside the Met Office: 'We have a role to play in what the climate of our future will look like'

ITV News Central's Weather Presenter Des Coleman visited the Hadley Centre in Exeter, the worlds’ number one leading authority on global climate change

Increasing frequency of storms, floods and heatwaves are demonstrating the impact that humans have had on Earth's climate - primarily through greenhouse gas emissions.

For years we have been subject to an abundance of information and data by climatologists of how our inaction could negatively impact the climate for years to come.

But who are climatologists? Where do they get their information, and how do they collate it?

The Hadley Centre in Exeter is the worlds’ number one leading authority on global climate change. They are the centre from which the United Nations draws upon its conclusions. 

The scientists working at The Hadley Centre are faceless heroes trying to future-proof our planet from an escalating climate catastrophe.

Climatologists use tools such as extract modelling, long-term problem solving and reverse climatising to our global future - hundreds of years in advance.

Nikos Christidis, a Climate Scientist at the Hadley Centre told ITV News Central: "Human influence is changing characteristics of extreme weather events.

"But by comparing different experiments, we can also look at future projections and assess future risks."

Scientists say that without a reduction in greenhouse emissions, extreme weather events such as heatwaves, floods and droughts will increase in severity in the future.

Dr Rosie Oakes, a climate scientist at the Met office told ITV News Central of how the climate links everybody around the world together.

In her role at the Met Office, she can look at what the climate is doing now, what the climate did in the past and what it could do in the future.

When looking at the climate in the past, Dr Oakes explained that despite not being able to travel back in time, by combining all of the different records and information they have, a picture can be painted of what the world was like back then.

However, she continued: "The worry is is that the more Carbon Dioxide that is put into the atmosphere, the warmer the world gets, we might get to some of these points that would trigger different things in the climate system.

"For example, the melting of methane hydrate, methane stored in ice almost, once you have melted that, you can't just shove it back in again.

Dr Oakes stressed that our inaction 20 years ago has had a huge impact on the difficulties we are facing today: "If we had been able to put something in place 20 or 30 years ago to reduce emissions, the job we would have today would be much smaller than the job that we are facing.

"We have a role to play in what the climate of our future will look like.

"The less carbon we put into the atmosphere, the less warming there will be and the less impact will be on people around the world."

Fortunately we are moving towards are more sustainable way of life, which includes wind farms, solar panels and more efficient ways to heat our homes.

Together, we are future-proofing our planet for generations to come.

If we take action, we can make positive change.