Dr Ed Blockley
Ed leads the Polar Climate Group whose focus is understanding climate change in polar regions and development of the sea ice model component of the Met Office prediction systems.
Areas of expertise
- Ocean and sea-ice modelling
- NEMO ocean model
- CICE sea ice model
- Ocean and sea ice forecast validation
- Scientific software development
- Operational transitions
Current activities
Ed is manager of the Polar Climate Group within the Met Office Hadley Centre. The group are responsible for the following:
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development of the sea ice model component of the Met Office prediction systems
- providing guidance to government on polar climate issues (including regular summer briefings on the state of Arctic sea ice)
-
improving understanding of climate change in polar regions (both past and projected)
- assessment and evaluation of Met Office coupled modelling systems in high latitude regions
Ed also leads development of the UK's Global Sea Ice (GSI) configurations under the auspices of the UK's Joint Weather and Climate Research Programme (JWCRP). These GSI configurations are used for forecasting and prediction across all time scales from hours to seasons as well as for climate projections within all the Met Office/Hadley Centre physical models and the UK Earth System Model.
Career background
Ed has been leading the Polar Climate Group within the Climate, Cryosphere and Oceans group since 2015.
Before moving to the Polar Climate Group, Ed was employed within Ocean Forecasting Research and Development where he was responsible for developing and assessing the new FOAM operational ocean forecasting models.
Prior to joining the Met Office in February 2008, Ed read mathematics at the University of Exeter where he obtained a MMath and a PhD in applied mathematics specialising in fluid dynamics and non-linear phenomena.