• Introduction and Missions:

Climate and Environment Modeling Lab was established in 1999 under the initiative of the first director of Institute of Earth Environment, Academician Zhisheng An. The laboratory’s missions include following three aspects: (1) to explore mechanisms of climate and environment changes in the Asia continent at different time scales by using numerical simulations and observational analyses; (2) to extract paleo-analogue patterns of the regional climate change and early warning signals of global change for the future, based on modeling results, geological evidences and historical records of climate and environment changes; (3) to provide the basic information and scientific basis for policy making and strategy planning for sustainable human development.

Currently our research mainly focuses on the climate and environment changes at different time scales by using numerical simulations over the Tibetan Plateau and its vicinity. We undertake several important projects related to the climate and environment change of the earth’s past, present and future, especially paleoclimate modeling related to the Tibetan Plateau and East Asian monsoon. During past 10 years, we have published more than 100 research papers, which have been cited by more than 1000 papers.

Now we have 5 fixed research staffs, 3 guest professors, 2 project researchers and 6 master and PhD students. The lab director, Xiaodong Liu, was awarded the National Natural Science second-class Award, the State Outstanding Youth Science Fund, and the expert title of outstanding contributions of Shaanxi provinces. The lab is equipped with a Dawning TC5000 high performance computer, a Galactic GT4000 super blade computing system and an IBM Power 550 supercomputer. The CAM4, CCSM4, CESM1, FOAM, RegCM4 and WRF models are installed on the supercomputers to provide numerical computing services for the global and regional paleo-climate modeling, short-term climate change and the future scenarios prediction.

See the details: http://tibet.ieecas.cn/english/index.htm

• Publications:

1. Liu Xiaodong and Buwen Dong, 2013: Influence of the Tibetan Plateau uplift on the Asian monsoon-arid environment evolution, Chinese Science Bulletin, 58(34), doi: 10.1007/s11434-013-5987-8.

2. Li XZ, XD Liu, LJ Qiu, ZS An and Z-Y Yin, 2013: Transient Simulation of Orbital-scale Precipitation Variation in Monsoonal East Asia and Arid Central Asia during the Last 150ka, J. Geophys. Res., 118, 7481–7488.

3. Xie X.N. and X.D. Liu, 2013: Analytical studies of the cloud droplet spectral dispersion influence on the first indirect aerosol effect, Adv. Atmos. Sci., 30, 1313-1319.

4. Liu X.D., S Ding, L Bi, and P Yang, 2012: On the use of scattering kernels in the calculation of the bulk optical properties of ice clouds, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 29(1). 50-63.

5. Sun Hui, Zaitao Pan and Xiaodong Liu, 2012: Numerical simulation of spatial-temporal distribution of dust aerosol and its direct radiative effects on East Asian climate, J. Geophys. Res., 117, 2011JD017219.

6. Shi Zhengguo, Xiaodong Liu, Xiaoxia Cheng, 2012: Anti-phased response of northern and southern East Asian summer precipitation to ENSO modulation of orbital forcing, Quaternary Science Reviews, 40(1), 30-38.

7. Liu X.D. and Z-Y. Yin, 2011: Forms of the Tibetan Plateau uplift and regional differences of the Asia monsoon-arid environmental evolution - A modeling perspective, J. Earth Environment, 3, 401-416.

8. Liu X.D., L.B. Yan, P. Yang, Z.-Y. Yin, and G.R. North, 2011: Influence of Indian summer monsoon on aerosol loading in East Asia, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 50(3), 523-533.

9. Liu X.D. and Y. Wang, 2011: Contrasting impacts of spring thermal conditions over Tibetan Plateau on late-spring to early-summer precipitation in Southeast China, Atmospheric Science Letters, 12(3): 309-315.

10. Liu X.D., X.N. Xie, Z.-Y. Yin, C.H. Liu, A. Gettelman, 2011: A modeling study of the effects of aerosols on clouds and precipitation over East Asia, Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 106, 343-354.

11. Yan L.B., X.D. Liu, P. Yang, Z.-Y. Yin and G. R. North, 2011: Study of the impact of summer monsoon circulation on spatial distributions of aerosols in East Asia based on numerical simulations, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 50(11), 2270–2282.

12. Shi Z. G., and Liu X. D., 2011: Distinguishing the provenance of fine-grained eolian dust over the Chinese Loess Plateau from a modeling perspective. Tellus B, 63, 959-970.

13. Shi Z. G., Liu X. D., Sun Y. B., An Z. S., Liu Z., and Kutzbach J., 2011: Distinct responses of East Asian summer and winter monsoons to astronomical forcing, Clim. Past, 7, 1363-1370.

14. Shi Z.G., X.D. Liu, Z.S. An, B.Q. Yi, P. Yang, N. Mahowald, 2011: Simulated variations of eolian dust from inner Asian deserts at the mid-Pliocene, last glacial maximum, and present day: contributions from the regional tectonic uplift and global climate change, Climate Dynamics, 37: 2289-2301.

15. Xie X.N. and X.D. Liu, 2011: Effects of spectral dispersion on clouds and precipitation in mesoscale convective system, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D06202, doi:10.1029/2010JD014598.

16. Liu X.D. and L. Li, 2010: Orbit-scale Variability of the Asian summer monsoon modulated by the Tibetan Plateau uplift identified in a coupled ocean-atmosphere model, J. Earth Environment, 1, 36-42.

17. Xie Xiaoning and Liu Xiaodong, 2010: Spectral dispersion of cloud droplet size distributions and radar threshold reflectivity for drizzle, Chinese Physics B, 19(10), 109201.

18. Liu X.D., Z.G. Cheng, L.B. Yan and Z.Y. Yin, 2009: Elevation dependency of recent and future minimum surface temperature trends in the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings, Global and Planetary Change, 68, 164-174.