Climate Database Developer
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
The 'Climate Database Developer' role, part of the wider Observations Quality Management Team, is responsible for supporting and developing software used to manage and quality control land and marine based meteorological observations. These observations are subsequently stored in a relational database: the Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) which runs on Oracle technology. The quality management aspect includes the analysis and processing of meteorological data to recognise and resolve issues and identify root causes of performance problems. The aim is to improve data quality and ingest processes within the databases to ensure standards meet customer requirements. The software development aspect includes developing innovative and tailored automated quality control checks on meteorological data to improve processing methods. The software used for development include Structured Query Language (SQL) and Python. By highlighting and rectifying suspect data the Met Office's Integrated Data Archive System ensures a high standard and comprehensive database in compliance with service level agreements. Additionally, operational detachments to Eskdalemuir Observatory and Lerwick Observatory (Scotland, UK) are undertaken to help maintain the observing network. Work includes routine synoptic observations, radiosonde launches, total ozone observations made using a Dobson spectrophotometer, analysis of Campbell–Stokes sunshine data, pollen analysis and real time monitoring of UK based land synoptic station observations.