Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Responsibilities:

• Post-doctoral Research Assistant in Space Weather Data Assimilation
• Former Chair of the PDRA Forum

Research Interests:

• Solar Wind
• Data Assimilation
• Machine Learning
• Space Weather
• Extra-terrestrial Planetary atmospheres

Current Research Project:

Solar wind data assimilation (funded by NERC)
• I am currently developing data assimilation methodologies that can incorporate solar wind observations into numerical models to improve the accuracy of forecasts. This has led to the development of the Burger Radial Variational Data Assimilation (BRaVDA) scheme which is the first data assimilation scheme capable of assimilating near-Earth-orbit in-situ data and is currently undergoing validation for a transition to operational use at the UK Met Office. I realised that there was a need for a time-dependent reduced-physics solar wind model that was amenable to use in data assimilation. This led to the development of the HUXt solar wind model, which is capable of running large ensembles enabling the investigation of solar wind uncertainties in forecasting. This capability has led to the HUXt model being transitioned to operational use at the Met Office. I am currently in the process of developing a data assimilation scheme for this model.

Students supervised

Harriet Turner
• Harriet is validating the BRaVDA scheme for future operational use at the UK Met Office.
Jake Witherington
• Jake was an Undergraduate Summer Student funded through a Royal Astronomical Society Bursary in 2020. He investigated the forecast improvements that can be obtained from the BRaVDA scheme, leading to a published paper in the Space Weather journal.

Research Groups

• SPATE
• DARC

Professional memberships

• American Geophysical Union
• European Geophysical Union
• Royal Meteorological Society
• Royal Astronomical Society

Last update: 18th November 2020