The Science, Engineering & Technology Award Shortlist

Atmospheric Dispersion Group, The Met Office

Two natural hazard events occurred in the first half of 2011, for which an authoritative and customer-focused response was essential, exploiting world-leading atmospheric dispersion science. Firstly, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami severely disabled the Fukushima nuclear reactor in March, prompting concerns over the possible dispersion of radioactive nuclides both locally and on an international scale. Secondly in May, just a year after the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull, the Grimsvotn volcano erupted on Iceland requiring that ash cloud advice was delivered to the airline community and the Department of Transport.

Following the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in 1986, the Met Office developed its NAME (Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling Environment) in order to predict the likely transport of radioactive material from future incidents. Using wind and precipitation forecast data from the Met Office's world-leading computer forecast model, the Unified Model, to predict the dispersion of atmospheric contaminants, NAME is now in its third generation and is used for a variety of purposes including the transport of volcanic ash.

This nomination recognises the efforts of the Met Office scientists from the Atmospheric Dispersion Group for both developing the capabilities and exploiting them to provide expert advice in support of these two events, working with key partners across a range of other government and non-departmental government bodies as they responded with the highest degree of professionalism.