Oliver Lomax

I am currently helping design and implement the next generation data assimilation software for use on the Met Office’s next supercomputer.

The flexibility of a Physics degree

After completing my Astrophysics PhD at Cardiff University, I continued as a Postdoctoral student for several years, followed by a year at the European Space Agency, and finally landing at the Met Office as a Weather Scientist.

Many of the challenges of numerical weather prediction (NWP) require the same skills as those of astronomy and astrophysics.

These are: an ability to model complicated systems, a good understanding of maths and statistics, and experience in software development.

My time spent at Cardiff University helped me develop all the skills I needed to boost my career. The upshot of this was that it was easy to switch from a career in astrophysics to a career in weather prediction.

Predicting the weather

The Met Office is a world leader in short and medium range weather forecasts, ranging from hours to about a week in advance.

I am currently helping design and implement the next generation data assimilation software for use on the Met Office’s next supercomputer.

Data assimilation is method of combining observations with a numerical model to get the best out of both. It’s one of the key reasons why the effective range of forecasts has been improving by about a day every decade!

Working at the Met Office with lots of interesting scientists

The Met Office employs many scientists from different backgrounds – but lots seem to have astronomy backgrounds! It’s so exciting to work with such a wide variety of views and opinions – no one is really encouraged to ‘fit in’, which I love!