Currently, I am an Earth system modeler. Explore hands-on examples of Earth system modeling through tutorials and model source code.

📖 Educations

• 2023.07 - (now), PhD candidate in Environmental Science, School of Natural Sciences, The University of Manchester (UoM).
  • Supervised by Dr. Zhonghua Zheng, Prof. David Topping, and Prof. David Schultz.
• 2020.09 - 2023.03, Master of Architecture, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University (ZJU).
  • Supervised by Prof. Zhu Wang.
• 2015.09 - 2020.06, Bachelor of Architecture, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University (ZJU).
  • 2019.01 - 2019.05, Undergraduate exchange student, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore (NUS).

📢 Talks

• 2025.07 Oral Improving Urban Climate Adaptation Modeling in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) Through Transient Urban Surface Albedo Representation at 12th International Conference on Urban Climate (ICUC12).
• 2025.06 Oral Modeling Urban Traffic Heat Flux in the Community Earth System Model at 30th Annual CESM Workshop.
• 2025.02 Oral Enhancing Global-Scale Urban Land Cover Representation Using Local Climate Zones in the Community Earth System Model at Land Model and Biogeochemistry Working Group Meeting 2025 of CESM 2025 Winter Working Group Meetings.
• 2024.06 Oral Improving Urban Climate Adaptation Modelling in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) Through Transient Urban Surface Albedo Representation at 29th Annual CESM Workshop.
• 2024.06 Poster Representing Local Climate Zones (LCZs) for the Community Earth System Model (CESM) at Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) 21st Annual Meeting.

🎖 Honors & Awards

• 2024.06 Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) 21st Annual Meeting, Best Student Poster Award.

• 2021.12, 2019.12, 2018.12, 2017.12, 2016.12 China National Scholarship.
• 2023.03, 2020.06 Outstanding Graduates in Zhejiang Province, China.
• 2019.12 Chu Kochen Scholarship at Zhejiang University.

💻 Skills

• Multi-scale Earth system modeling:

  • By scale:

    • Global climate model: CESM.
    • Regional climate model: WRF, WRF-CTSM.

  • By component:

    • Atmosphere model: CAM, CAM-Chem.

    • Land surface model: CTSM, JULES.

    • Urban model: CLMU, NOAH-SLUCM.

• High-performance computing (platforms): Archer2, UoM’s HPC, JASMIN.

  • Compiler: GNU.

  • Language: Fortran, Python, Bash.

• Python package development: IPTpy, pyclmuapp, obswx.
• Geography, Urban planning & Architecture design: Google Earth Engine, Rhino, SketchUp, ArcGIS, Autodesk suite (i.e., AutoCAD and Revit).
• Statistics: Python, R, Stata.
• Visualization & Media: Adobe suite (i.e., Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, and Audition).

📝 Publications

As the first/corresponding author

Research interest 1: Urban Climate

• Sun, Y., et al. (2024). Improving urban climate adaptation modeling in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) through transient urban surface albedo representation. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. 16(12), 2024MS004380. 10.1029/2024MS004380

Research interest 2: Urban Planning & Architecture Design

• Sun, Y. (2025). Mapping urban morphological prototypes: Unveiling local identity in historic water towns of the Northern Zhejiang Plain, China. Geocarto International. 40(1), 2547011. 10.1080/10106049.2025.2547011

• Sun, Y., et al. (2025). County-level urban forms and their correlation with local governance in Jiande, China: Evidence from historical records. Journal of Asia Architecture and Building Engineering. 24(3), 1985-1998. 10.1080/13467581.2024.2322000

• Sun, Y., et al. (2024). Spatiotemporal evolution of urban landscapes in Chinese historic water towns (1918-2021). Landscape Research. 49(4), 568–583. 10.1080/01426397.2024.2322138
• Zheng, Y., Sun, Y., et al. (2022). Developing green–building design strategies in the Yangtze River Delta, China through a coupling relationship between geomorphology and climate. Land. 12(1), 6. 10.3390/land12010006

As the co-author

• Yu, J., Sun, Y., et al. (2025). Integration and Execution of Community Land Model Urban (CLMU) in a Containerized Environment. Environmental Modelling and Software. 10.1016/j.envsoft.2025.106391
• Wang, Y., Zheng, Z., Sun, Y., et al. (2025). Improved representation of black carbon mixing structures suggests stronger direct radiative heating. One Earth. 10.1016/j.oneear.2025.101311
• Xia, B., Wu, K., Guo, P., Sun, Y., et al. (2022). Multidisciplinary innovation adaptability of campus spatial organization: From a network perspective. Sage Open. 10.1177/21582440221079929

👩🏻‍🏫 Tutorings

• 2025.07 Associate Fellow of Advance Higher Education (AFAHE)
• 2023.09 - 2026.06 Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) at The University of Manchester