Massimo Bonavita

Principal Scientist Data Assimilation Methodology
Research, Earth System Assimilation, Data Assimilation Methodology

Summary:

Massimo joined ECMWF in March 2009 to work on the development of the variational data assimilation system and its ensemble extension. SInce February 2016 Massimo leads the Data Assimilation Methodology Team of the Earth System Assimilation Section, which works on the continuous improvement of the data assimilation algorithms used for the initialization of ECMWF forecasts.

Professional interests:
  • Data Assimilation
  • Estimation Theory
  • Inverse Problems
Career background:

After obtaining his Master Degree in experimental Physics from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (1992) Massimo worked for two years in the telecom industry as a software developer. In 1995 he joined the Weather Service of the Italian Air Force, where he worked for 15 years first as a forecaster and then in the data assimilation section. In this time he obtained a Master in Meteorology from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, USA (2000-2001).

In March 2009 Massimo joined ECMWF where he has since worked on various aspects of the data assimilation problem, with particular emphasis on error estimation and characterisation. During this period he has obtained a PhD in Remote Sensing from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (2012-2015). He currently coordinates the research effort of the Data Assimilation Methodology Team.