Professional summary
John specialises in hydrological modelling using the lumped Probability Distributed Model (PDM) and the distributed Grid-to-Grid (G2G) rainfall-runoff model. He successfully developed and applied an automated calibration environment for the PDM model as part of the eFLaG project, which he has subsequently used to calibrate models for the UK Hydrological Outlook and will also feature in the HydroJULES Model Intercomparison Study. John also updated and recalibrated the G2G model for operational use by the Flood Forecasting Centre and is currently undertaking a similar update for SEPA.
John contributes to hydrological model development by improving water routing schemes, assessing soil datasets, and testing soil moisture data assimilation. His wider hydrological experience includes catchment-scale nutrient modelling using CASCADE, development of ANaRM for simulating nature-based solutions in urban environments, and improving catchment descriptors for the Flood Estimation Handbook.
He has an interest in innovative measurement techniques. His work explores rainfall estimation using commercial microwave links, the assessment of X-band radar precipitation measurements for hydrological modelling, and the use of cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNS) to estimate snow water equivalent. He has applied neutron transport modelling to refine the CRNS footprints for soil moisture monitoring and investigated the potential of the COSMOS-UK CRNS network to detect space weather events.
Prior to his work in hydrology, John previously worked as a theoretical physicist, employing a variety of analytical and numerical techniques to study two-dimensional materials.