Areas of expertise

Susan's areas of expertise include:

• Dispersion for emergency response applications
• Volcanic ash dispersion modelling

Publications by Susan Leadbetter

Current activities

The main focus of Susan's work is on the development the Met Office's Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling Environment (NAME) and the development of operational emergency response computer systems which assist staff responding to events. She also provides scientific advice during the response to larger events such as the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in April / May 2010 and trains staff on the use of dispersion models in the response to such events. Recently she has been developing a wind blown ash forecast for southern Iceland.

Career background

Susan has worked in atmospheric dispersion since joining the Met Office. Before joining the Met Office in 2009, Susan worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at Duke University (USA) looking at the role of the North Atlantic ocean in European climate variability. Prior to that she worked at the University of Liverpool on the 36N project. This project involved an oceanographic cruise to examine changes in various physical and chemical properties of the mid-latitude North Atlantic.

Susan holds degree in mathematics and theoretical physics from the University of St Andrews and has completed a PhD on ocean heat content changes in the North Atlantic at the University of Liverpool.