Lucy Neal
Lucy is a senior air quality scientist and works on the development of models used to predict levels of air pollution and allergenic pollen.
Areas of expertise
- Pollen modelling
- Air quality forecasting
- Atmospheric dispersion modelling
- Atmospheric pollutant emissions data
Current activities
Lucy works within the Air Quality Modelling group, which is part of the Atmospheric Dispersion and Air Quality Group.
Lucy is responsible for developing the Met Office’s pollen modelling capability. This uses the Met Office 'NAME' dispersion model to predict the emission and movement of pollen through the atmosphere. She also develops the Met Office's operational air quality forecast system (Air Quality in the Unified Model). This is a regional air quality configuration of the Met Office Numerical Weather Prediction models and runs each day to produce forecasts of air pollution levels out to five days ahead. An important focus of her work is verifying the performance of these models against observations, as well as conducting work to improve the forecasts by incorporating recent observations.
Career background
Lucy graduated from Warwick University in 2007 with a BSc in Mathematics before completing an MSc in Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate at Reading University. Lucy joined the Met Office in 2008, as part of the Atmospheric Dispersion and Air Quality Group.