Data assimilation is a new, rapidly growing and well-funded research area that is essential to prediction of all components of the Earth system and their coupled evolution. It is the science of combining environmental data sets (from ground-based sensors to satellites) with numerical models of that environment to give the models the best possible starting conditions for the forecasts. It requires thorough knowledge of the underlying mathematics, numerical modelling and the application area. This course aims to provide a foundation of the theory and techniques of data assimilation and inverse methods and their application to atmosphere, ocean, land surface, cryosphere, hydrology, and oil and gas reservoir modelling.

Many of our postgraduate students pursue scientific careers in weather forecasting and meteorological research. In recent years they have been recruited by the Met Office, MeteoGroup, FUGRO Geos, Arup, AIR and RMS. Others pursue careers associated with diverse aspects of environmental measurement, risk management and policy development. There is a rapid growth in career opportunities as organisations take action to adapt to climate change. Many industries also now use sophisticated weather forecasts and people trained in using and interpreting them are in demand. Opportunities exist in sectors such as insurance, energy generation and trading, retail and the water industry.