The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is a global leader in ocean understanding and has now committed to making sense of the seas through its digital expertise, sharing intelligence with others on how the ocean moves and changes.
The information it collects from the ocean is used by other nations; the UK government; the Met Office, and the wider marine science communities. Through this information, we can understand our oceans and the vital life-supporting services they provide, and how that will be affected by climate change.
To affirm this commitment, the NOC has appointed a leader of its digital ocean agenda, John Siddorn. John joins the NOC in March as Associate Director of Digital Ocean.
Formerly heading up the Met Office’s ocean forecasting group, John has expertise in modelling our regional seas. He has also led the research behind prediction capability for surface waves, storm surges, and observation-based sea surface temperature and sea ice analyses.
Welcoming John’s appointment, Professor Angela Hatton, Chief Scientist at the NOC, said “We are really pleased that John will be joining the NOC to lead the digital ocean agenda. I know his expertise will help us develop a greater understanding of our changing seas, as well as enable us to share this knowledge with others.”
John Siddorn said “I have worked in partnership with the NOC for many years and I am really excited about being part of the team. The NOC is a truly inspiring place to be. Digital advances give us a great opportunity to unlock the value in observations, through making data easier to access and through novel approaches to interrogating our data. I am delighted to be playing a role in adding value to the ocean data produced at the NOC.”
John’s earlier career was as a Coastal Ocean Modelling Scientist for the North West European shelf. His research has primarily been the development of ocean models. He also worked for the Natural Environmental Research Council at Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the biogeochemistry modelling team.
A nationally recognised expert in the ocean, John is co-chair of the National Partnership for Ocean Prediction and sits on the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Steering Committee.