Dr Oak Wells
Oak leads the Verification, Impacts and Post-Processing team
Areas of expertise
- Pull-through of weather data into industry services
- Clear air turbulence
- Aviation Meteorology
- Orographic drag
- Gravity waves
Current activities
Oak is the Head of the Verification, Impacts and Post-Processing (VIPP) team within the Met Office's Weather Science area. The team is responsible for the science and systems which use output from numerical weather prediction (NWP) models.
Prior to this, Oak led a multi-disciplinary team of around 35 engineers, scientists and IT professions working on R&D for observations.
Career background
Oak began their career at the Met Office in 2002 as a graduate scientist working on modelling flow over mountains. The Met Office sponsored them to work on a PhD with the University of Leeds which they completed in 2007. In 2010 they began working part-time and soon after moved to the aviation applications science team as Science Manager developing new science in support of air traffic control, airlines and airports. After a year of maternity leave, they returned to work and was subsequently promoted to Head of Applied Weather Science, leading a team of 45 scientists to develop services for various sectors including defence, aviation and energy. In 2016 they took on the role of Group Leader for Science and Meteorology, leading a large team of weather forecasters and scientists to develop and deliver Met Office services to industry. Oak was also responsible for the leadership and management of the Met Office’s industry focused science, by providing strategic direction, ensuring that we deliver excellent customer outcomes and invest in novel approaches which change the way industry makes weather and climate based decisions.
External recognition
In 2011, Oak won the Royal Meteorological Society L F Richarson Prize for their research into mountain waves and their representation in numerical models.
