An external view of the Met Office building at night.

Dr Ricky Wong

Areas of expertise

  • Atmospheric convection.

  • Met Office SCM.

Current activities

Ricky is responsible for the Single Column Unified Model (SCM), which is a single column version of the Unified Model. The SCM uses the same physics as the full Unified Model over a single point and is decoupled from the model dynamics. The SCM is an important research tool and provides a quick first look at new physics parametrization developments. It is used in both convection and other areas of Atmospheric Processes and Parametrizations.

Ricky is the SCM code owner and provides support for its users, both internally within the Met Office and externally with Met Office partners using the Unified Model. He has been working towards improving its integration with the Unified Model.

A recent focus of Ricky's work has been modifying the SCM to be able to take part in the KNMI parametrization testbed in collaboration with Dr Ben Shipway and Roel Neggers. This will allow access to a much wider range of observations (and SCMs from other GCMs) with which to compare and run the SCM.

Ricky is also frequently involved with reviewing code updates relating to the convection scheme and SCM.

Career background

Ricky has been a member of Atmospheric Processes and Parametrizations since starting at the Met Office in 2003. Prior to joining the Met Office, Ricky completed a PhD in enhancement of supersonic jet mixing at Cranfield University (RMCS) in Wiltshire, where he also received his undergraduate degree in AeroMech Systems Engineering.