Willis Research Fellow Dr Aidan Slingsby and Dr Jason Dykes and Dr Jo Wood of City University London, in collaboration with Willis Research Network (WRN) Senior Academic Dr David Stephenson and Rachel Lowe of Exeter University, have won a Google research prize for their work on visualising seasonal climate forecasts in Google Earth. The entry allowed 10 years of seasonal climate forecast data in South America to be explored.

The judges agreed that it "represented a novel and compelling representation of science using Google Earth and the KML language". Willis aims to lead modern mapping and GeoVisualisation techniques across insurance.

Further details can be found here:
http://www.google.com/educators/kml_contest.html
http://www.gicentre.org/climatekml/

Meanwhile, WRN Chairman Rowan Douglas joined Lord Drayson, UK Science Minister, to launch the US$50m National Centre of Earth Observation (NCEO). The centre links 26 UK Universities and overseas institutions, including many WRN members, to access and integrate data from NASA, the European Space Agency and other nations' satellites currently in orbit and scheduled for future launches.

Speaking to an audience of 300 at the Royal Institution, Douglas said "Satellite observation has transformed our understanding of the scale, frequency and impacts of natural hazards from hurricane tracks to bushfires and floods. Remote sensing also extends our understanding of exposures and post event response. The next ten years will witness a revolution in our ability to integrate satellite data into insurance operations." The WRN’s involvement with the NCEO puts it at the heart of this key area for risk management.

More information on the NCEO can be found here: http://www.nceo.ac.uk/