50,000 sign up to BBC weather grid project

A grid computing project launched by the BBC, the Met Office and others back in 2003 has seen more than 50,000 users volunteer their home computing power in the name of climate change.

The combined computing power of average users from around the world has helped scientists produce what they believe is one of the most accurate models of how the world's climate will change up to 2080.

Users were able to download climate prediction software to their home PCs, with the program utilising spare computing power from idle machines to analyse possible models of the world's future climate. The climate prediction model - which simulated a period of decades of climate change at a time - had previously only been run on the Met Office's supercomputers but was adapted for PC use.

Organisations including the universities of Oxford and Reading, along with the Open University and commercial companies were also involved in the project.

The grid project discovered the UK's average temperature is likely to rise by four degrees by 2080 and see the country hit with floods and droughts.

The findings of the project will be screened in Climate Change - Britain Under Threat this Sunday on BBC One.