Tsz Yan Leung

Scientist
Research, Earth System Assimilation, Coupled Assimilation

Summary:
Tsz Yan Leung is a data assimilation scientist currently working on developing new capabilities to assimilate freeboard observations for sea ice into the ECMWF model, which will better constrain the model's sea-ice thickness and snow depth over sea ice. He joined ECMWF in January 2025 with about 8 years of prior experience in numerical weather prediction-related topics, including data assimilation methodology, coupled data assimilation, ensemble forecasting and predictability studies.
Professional interests:
  • Coupled data assimilation (atmosphere—ocean—sea-ice)
  • Data assimilation methodology
  • Ensemble forecasting, data assimilation and verification
  • Predictability of the Earth system
Career background:
  • April 2022 – December 2024: Scientist / Senior Scientist at the UK Met Office working on developing a new data assimilation system based on the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) framework, with a specific focus on ensemble data assimilation
  • September 2020 – March 2022: Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Reading (Department of Mathematics and Statistics), specialising in coupled atmosphere-ocean data assimilation for numerical weather prediction
  • September 2016 – November 2020: MRes and PhD student at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in the Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE), joint between Imperial College London and the University of Reading
    • PhD thesis (2020): Weather Predictability: Some Theoretical Considerations
    • MRes thesis (2017): Role of Initial and Model Errors in the Uncertainty of Weather Forecasts
  • September 2013 – June 2016: BSc (Mathematics) student at Imperial College London