Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair – Environmental Science and Engineering
University of Northern British Columbia

Youmin Tang is a Canada Research Chair in climate prediction and predictability. His research field includes climate modeling and prediction at various timescales from months to years. His research has aimed at two of the most important issues in climate predictions --- improving prediction skills and estimating the uncertainties of predictions. Dr. Tang came to UNBC in 2005 following four years as a researcher at New York University’s world-renowned Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Meteorology from the Nanjing (China) Institute of Meteorology and a Doctorate in Physical Oceanography from the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Tang developed the world’s first hybrid coupled model with a nonlinear statistical atmosphere for El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) prediction.  In recent years, he has been using generalized stability theory and information theory to investigate several important issues relating to El Nino and El Nino-deduced climate predictability, including reliability measures of El Nino dynamical predictions, and the dominant precursors that control reliability. He also has published on applying machine learning methods to environmental sciences.

More accurate seasonal climate prediction is of great value to many sectors of the Canadian economy, including agriculture, fisheries, forestry, tourism, and power generation. Given that many experts believe climate change is affecting northern regions more than mid-latitude locales, conducting leading-edge climate-change research at UNBC is clearly appropriate.

UNBC news release: http://www.unbc.ca/releases/2008/08_29tang.html

Tel: 250-960-5190
http://web.unbc.ca/~ytang