An external view of the Met Office building at night.

Dr Siân Lane

Areas of expertise

  • Boundary-layer meteorology and observations
  • Fog
  • Urban microclimates

Current Activities

Siân is based at the Meteorological Research Unit in Cardington, Bedfordshire, carrying out analysis of data gathered using ground-based and remote sensing instrumentation. Experiments take place both at the Cardington field site and on detachment to temporary sites around the UK. The purpose of this work is to improve the physical representation of boundary layer processes in models. Her current work is focused on observational studies of radiation fog, including the surface deployment of miniature fog monitors at Cardington and comparisons with the cloud droplet probe. She is also responsible for a 94 G Hz cloud radar, which is currently based at Cardington.

Siân is currently working with the rest of the team at Cardington on LANFEX. The purpose of this project is to better understand the formation and evolution of fogs in both simple and complicated terrain, to better understand the properties and behaviour of forecast models when simulating fog events and to improve forecasting of fog outbreaks.

Career background

Siân completed her undergraduate degree in physics and philosophy at the University of Aberdeen Department of Physics. She went on to obtain an MSc in applied meteorology, and a PhD in urban meteorology at the University of Reading Department of Meteorology, sponsored by the Met Office as a CASE student. Her PhD project involved making observations of the urban boundary layer in central London, and comparing those observations with output from the Unified Model, with the aim of assessing the ability of the model to simulate urban meteorology. Siân joined the Met Office and has been working at Cardington since 2013.