An external view of the Met Office building at night.

Professor Jon Petch

Jon is Associate Director, Weather Science

Areas of expertise

  • Developing weather and climate modelling systems

  • Managing large scientific programmes of work

  • Managing scientific collaboration

  • Process modelling and parametrization development

My Publications - Petch, J 

Current activities

In his role as Associate Director, Weather Science, Jon oversees the work of around two hundred scientists and scientific software engineers who carry out a mixture of underpinning research and activities to deliver improved services. Weather science areas of responsibility include:

  • Delivering improvements to our operational modelling systems that underpin the Met Office's weather and marine services.
  • Delivering and improving air quality and dispersion services.
  • Improving the configuration of current and future observation networks and their use in data assimilation.
  • Delivering improved end-user information from ensemble systems.
  • Carrying out and improving the verification and monitoring of our NWP modelling capabilities.
  • Maintaining and developing the IT infrastructure that underpins our research and delivery capabilities.

 

Career background

Jon joined the Met Office in 1997 following completion of a PhD at the University of Reading and a two-year visiting scientist position at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado. His science has focused on work which improves the representation of the atmosphere in global and regional modelling systems for weather and climate. Recent roles in the Met Office included Head of Regional Model Development and Head of Science Partnerships. In the latter role he was responsible for delivering joint programmes of science with national and international partners of the Met Office.  

 

External recognition

  • Visiting Professor of Weather and Climate modelling at the University of Leeds.
  • Vice President of the Royal Meteorological Society in the UK.
  • Chair of the science advisory group for the US Department of Energy programme to develop a next generation earth system model (E3SM).
  • Member of the advisory board of the Australian Research Council centre into climate extremes (CLEX).
  • Previously chaired the World Climate Research Programme activity "GASS" which coordinates atmospheric model development.
  • Received the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) L.F. Richardson prize in 2003.
  • An invited author of the Ernst Strungmann Forum book titled Clouds in the Perturbed Climate System. This book won the Atmospheric Science Librarians International (ASLI) 2009 Choice award.