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Scientists from across the Met Office have been recognised for their work at the Royal Meteorology Society Awards. In total 11 Met Office employees received awards at the ceremony held in London.

The award recipients were:

The L F Richardson Prize: Dr Kirsty Hanley, Met Office

The Adrian Gill Prize: Dr Michael J Bell, Met Office

The Innovation Award:      

Awarded to The Scottish Flood Forecasting Service, the team from the Met Office included:

Brian Golding, Clive Pierce, Nigel Roberts and Bruce Wright.

The Climate Science Communications Award: Professor Peter Stott, Met Office Hadley Centre

The Gordon Manley Weather Prize

Awarded to the ‘Global and regional climate series’ team, which included the following Met Office employees:

David Parker, John Kennedy, Colin Morice and Holly Titchner.

Dr Kirsty Hanley received the L F Richardson prize for a paper that she lead authored which compared observed statistics of convective clouds with models at km scales and higher resolution models down to a grid length of just 100m. This award recognises a meritorious paper which was published in a Society journal during the preceding four years and was contributed by a member of the Society who was in their early career in meteorology.

The Adrian Gill prize was awarded to Dr Michael Bell for playing a leading national and international role in the development of the new discipline of operational oceanography. Amongst other streams of work, Mike was the lead scientist in the development of the Met Office’s FOAM ocean forecasting system, one of the first systems of its kind. The prize is awarded annually to a member of the Society who has made a significant contribution in the preceding five years and who has also been an author of a paper in the Society’s journals.

Dr Michael Bell receiving the Adrian Gill Prize. 

Four Met Office personnel that are part of the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service were recognised for their work on the ‘Surface Water Flood forecasting in Urban Communities’ project. They, along with their colleagues from SEPA, The James Hutton Institute, CEH Wallingford and CPAESS – UCAR, USA, received the Innovation Award which is based around innovation in meteorology, with a particular focus on business and/or public impact. It recognises people, projects or programmes within the academic, scientific or business communities who have made significant contributions to educating, informing or motivating organisations in their response to meteorological challenges.

Professor Peter Stott was awarded the Climate Science Communications Award for his work on the BBC programme ‘Climate Change: The Facts’. The programme featured Sir David Attenborough and as well as being interviewed for the programme Professor Stott assisted the BBC in their research. The Climate Science Communications Award is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding scientific contributions in the field of climate science and proactive outreach activities to communicate climate science. You can read more about Professor Stott’s career in his own words here.

Professor Peter Stott receiving the Climate Science Communications award.

The Society’s journal ‘Weather’ was first published in 1946 when Gordon Manley was President of the Society and the journal benefited from his encouragement. The Gordon Manley Prize is awarded annually for any outstanding contribution to Weather through furthering the public understanding of meteorology and oceanography. The Met Office Global and Regional Climate Series team received the prize and is made up of David Parker, John Kennedy, Colin Morice and Holly Titchner.

The full list of award recipients can be seen here: https://www.rmets.org/news/2018-society-awards-and-prize-winners-announced

More information on the background behind each award can be seen here: https://www.rmets.org/awards-and-prizes