Dr. Wang recently presented the research conducted by the SURF Lab at the 11th International Conference on Urban Climate (ICUC11) in Sydney, Australia.
Author: Chenghao Wang Page 5 of 6
Yuqi Huang recently joined the Sustainable URban Futures (SURF) Lab as a Ph.D. student majoring in Meteorology. Welcome!
Before coming to OU, Yuqi completed his master’s degree in civil engineering at Beijing Normal University, China. His previous research focused on understanding and modeling the physical, hydrological, and ecological processes of inland water bodies and the response of aquatic ecosystems to climate change.
Yuqi has an interest in interdisciplinary subjects across hydrology, meteorology, and statistics. His Ph.D. research will focus on understanding and improving the predictive capability of urban hydrometeorological and climate simulations across multiple spatial scales.
The Sustainable URban Futures (SURF) Lab in the School of Meteorology and the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, USA is seeking two doctoral students who are willing to pursue research in the following areas:
1. Urban Air Pollution Modeling Position:
The SURF Lab is seeking a self-motivated Ph.D. student to develop and apply an integrated high-resolution pollutant dispersion model over complex terrain (including urban environments), which will be evaluated with field observations. The Ph.D. student will be supported through a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through the iM4 Technologies program (Innovative Methane Measurement, Monitoring, and Mitigation Technologies). The successful candidate will enroll in the Ph.D. program in Meteorology and will begin in Spring 2024 (starting in Jan 2024) or Fall 2024 (starting in Aug 2024). For prospective Ph.D. students, a master’s degree in atmospheric science, meteorology, engineering, Earth science, or environmental science is preferred. Candidates with the following experience/expertise are especially encouraged to apply: (1) previous research experience in air pollution modeling, (2) proficiency in programming languages (Matlab, Fortran, and/or Python), and/or (3) familiar with geographic information systems.
2. Urban Climate Position:
The SURF Lab is seeking a self-motivated Ph.D. student to work on multiscale urban climate models and/or urban climate data analytics. The Ph.D. student will be supported through a mixture of GTA and GRA. The successful candidate will enroll in the Ph.D. program in either Meteorology or Geography and Environmental Sustainability and will begin in Spring 2024 (starting in Jan 2024) or Fall 2024 (starting in Aug 2024). For prospective Ph.D. students, a master’s degree in atmospheric science, meteorology, geography, engineering, Earth science, or environmental science is preferred but not required. Candidates with experience in using programming languages (e.g., Matlab, Python, R, and/or Fortran), geographic information systems, climate projections, and/or remotely sensed data are especially encouraged to apply.
Successful candidates will work with Dr. Chenghao Wang at the University of Oklahoma. With the strong modeling and/or data analysis skills developed during the training, successful candidates will have the opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary research team and study a wide range of urban issues and challenges as well as potential mitigation and adaptation measures on the path toward sustainable and resilient urban environments.
If you are interested, please contact Dr. Chenghao Wang (chenghao.wang@ou.edu) by Sep 1, 2023 (Spring 2024 admission) or Nov 1, 2023 (Fall 2024 admission), and attach (1) a copy of your CV, (2) a brief statement that highlights your interest (and skills and previous research experience when applicable) relevant to the position description, and (3) a copy of unofficial academic transcripts and TOEFL/IELTS/PET/DET transcripts (when applicable). Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.
Admission requirements:
- OU Graduate College: https://www.ou.edu/gradcollege/apply/before-you-apply
- International applicants: https://www.ou.edu/gradcollege/apply/international-applicants
- OU School of Meteorology: http://meteorology.ou.edu/academics/prospective-graduate/how-to-apply/
- OU Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability: https://www.ou.edu/ags/geography/degree-programs/graduate-program/prospective-graduate-students
About the SURF Lab:
The Sustainable URban Futures Lab at the University of Oklahoma examines the mechanisms of urban environments, their interactions with regional and global climates, and their impacts on building energy use, carbon emissions, and public health using numerical models and data analytics. Through our interdisciplinary research, we aim to advance the understanding of the urban environment and support more sustainable urban development under global environmental changes. Our research has been funded by multiple agencies including the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). More information about ongoing research can be found here: https://sites.create.ou.edu/chenghaowang/.
About the University of Oklahoma:
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma just 20 minutes south of Oklahoma City, one of the top 50 metropolitan areas in the United States. The university is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”. The School of Meteorology is the largest such program in the nation and is routinely ranked near the top of the nation. More information regarding the University of Oklahoma, the School of Meteorology, the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, and available degree programs can be found here: https://sites.create.ou.edu/chenghaowang/about/.
For further information, please contact Dr. Chenghao Wang (chenghao.wang@ou.edu).
Sarah Henry has recently accomplished a successful National Weather Center REU project. Congratulations, Sarah!
Throughout a 10-week journey, she investigated the spatial and temporal patterns of compound heat wave and particle pollution episodes in the urban environment across the contiguous U.S. (CONUS). Based on geospatial analyses of nighttime air temperature and daily PM2.5 concentration data, she found that, compared to rural surroundings, the majority of urban areas in the CONUS experienced more frequent, more intense, and longer-lasting heat waves, PM2.5 pollution days, as well as the compound episodes. Regionally, the Northeast and Ohio Valley exhibited the highest frequency of compound heat and pollution events, while the Northeast, Ohio Valley, and Southeast showed the longest durations of these events. Furthermore, the West and Southwest regions had the highest heat intensity during compound events, while the Northeast, Ohio Valley, and Southeast experienced the highest pollution intensity. Sarah’s research offers a pioneering perspective on compound heat and pollution episodes in U.S. cities, providing valuable insights for future investigations in this field.
Her final paper titled “Compound Heat Wave and PM2.5 Pollution Episodes in U.S. Cities” has been posted on arXiv (https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2307.15296) and is also available on REU’s website.
The REU program is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AGS-2050267. More information about REU and how to apply can be found here.
Our new paper, “Compound climate-pollution extremes in Santiago de Chile“, is published in Scientific Reports (IF: 4.996).
The paper and its supplement can be downloaded at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-33890-w.
Authors: Sarah Feron, Raúl R. Cordero, Alessandro Damiani, Pedro Oyola, Tabish Ansari, Juan C. Pedemonte, Chenghao Wang, Zutao Ouyang, and Valentina Gallo
Abstract: Cities in the global south face dire climate impacts. It is in socioeconomically marginalized urban communities of the global south that the effects of climate change are felt most deeply. Santiago de Chile, a major mid-latitude Andean city of 7.7 million inhabitants, is already undergoing the so-called “climate penalty” as rising temperatures worsen the effects of endemic ground-level ozone pollution. As many cities in the global south, Santiago is highly segregated along socioeconomic lines, which offers an opportunity for studying the effects of concurrent heatwaves and ozone episodes on distinct zones of affluence and deprivation. Here, we combine existing datasets of social indicators and climate-sensitive health risks with weather and air quality observations to study the response to compound heat-ozone extremes of different socioeconomic strata. Attributable to spatial variations in the ground-level ozone burden (heavier for wealthy communities), we found that the mortality response to extreme heat (and the associated further ozone pollution) is stronger in affluent dwellers, regardless of comorbidities and lack of access to health care affecting disadvantaged population. These unexpected findings underline the need of a site-specific hazard assessment and a community-based risk management.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33890-w
Our new paper, “Finding causal gateways of precipitation over the contiguous United States“, is published in Geophysical Research Letters (IF: 5.576). This paper is from the collaboration with the Urban Environment Research Group at Arizona State University (ASU).
The paper and its supplement can be downloaded at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022GL101942.
Authors: Xueli Yang, Zhi-Hua Wang, Chenghao Wang, and Ying-Cheng Lai
Abstract: Identifying regions that mediate regional propagation of atmospheric perturbations is important to assessing the susceptibility and resilience of complex hydroclimate systems. Detecting the regional gateways through causal inference, can help unravel the interplay of physical processes and inform projections of future changes. In this study, we characterize the causal interactions among nine climate regions in the contiguous United States using long-term (1901–2018) precipitation data. The constructed causal networks reveal the cross-regional propagation of precipitation perturbations. Results show that the Ohio Valley region acts as an atmospheric gateway for precipitation and moisture transport in the U.S., which is largely regulated by the regional convective uplift. The findings have implications for improving predicative capacity of hydroclimate modeling of regional precipitation.
Plain Language Summary: Successful detection of causality in complex systems is important to unraveling the underlying mechanisms of system dynamics. The dynamic interactions in Earth’s climate system are often nonlinear, weakly or moderately coupled, and essentially non-separable, which renders conventional approaches of causal inference, such as statistical correlation or Granger causality, infeasible or ineffective. Here we applied the convergent cross mapping method to detect causal influence among different climate regions in the contiguous U.S. in response to precipitation perturbations. The results of our study show that the Ohio Valley region, as an atmospheric convergence zone, acts as a regional gateway and mediator for the long-term precipitation perturbations in the U.S. The temporal evolution of causal effect and susceptibility exhibits superposition of climate variability at various time scales, highlighting the impact of prominent climate variabilities such as El Niño–Southern Oscillation on the dynamics of causality.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101942
Our new paper, “Spatial distribution of oceanic moisture contributions to precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau“, is published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (IF: 6.617).
The paper and its supplement can be downloaded at https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/26/6413/2022/.
Authors: Ying Li, Chenghao Wang, Ru Huang, Denghua Yan, Hui Peng, and Shangbin Xiao
Abstract: Evaporation from global oceans is an important moisture source for glaciers and headwaters of major Asian rivers in the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Although the accelerated global hydrological cycle, the altered sea–land thermal contrast and the amplified warming rate over the TP during the past several decades are known to have profound effects on the regional water balance, the spatial distribution of oceanic moisture contributions to the vast TP remains unclear. This hinders the accurate quantification of regional water budgets and the reasonable interpretation of water isotope records from observations and paleo archives. Based on historical data and moisture tracking, this study systematically quantifies the absolute and relative contributions of oceanic moisture to long-term precipitation in the TP. Results show that the seasonal absolute and relative oceanic contributions are generally out of phase, revealing the previously underestimated oceanic moisture contributions brought by the westerlies in winter and the overestimated moisture contributions from the Indian Ocean in summer. Quantitatively, the relative contribution of moisture from the Indian Ocean is only ∼30 % in the south TP and further decreases to below 10 % in the northernmost TP. The absolute oceanic contribution exhibits a spatial pattern consistent with the dipole pattern of long-term precipitation trends across the Brahmaputra Canyon region and the central-northern TP. In comparison, relative oceanic contributions show strong seasonal patterns associated with the seasonality of precipitation isotopes across the TP.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6413-2022
Come to our presentations at AGU Fall Meeting in Chicago!
GC15D-04: Heterogeneous Response of City-level Building Energy Use to Future Climate Change, Socioeconomic Development, and Power Sector Decarbonization
Time: 3:20 pm – 3:30 pm, Monday, Dec 12, 2022
Room: McCormick Place – S504abc (South, Level 5)
Presenter: Chenghao Wang
Session: GC15D: Multi-sector Dynamics: Environmental Change, Resilience, and Society in Urban Areas Under a Changing Climate II Oral
Abstract Link: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm22/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1083474
NG25B-0390 – Finding Causal Gateways of Heatwave Propagation among U.S. Cities
Time: 2:45 pm – 6:15 pm, Tuesday, Dec 13, 2022
Room: McCormick Place – Poster Hall‚ Hall A, Board 0390
Presenter: Xueli Yang
Session: NG25B: Extreme Variability and Complexity: Bridging Mathematics, Physics, and Information Technologies from Urban Systems to Climate, Geophysics, and Pandemics III Poster
Abstract Link: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm22/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1060203
GC36D-08 – A Single-Layer Urban Canopy Model with Transmissive Radiation Exchange between Trees and Street Canyons
Time: 6:04 pm – 6:15 pm, Wednesday, Dec 14, 2022
Room: McCormick Place – S502ab (South, Level 4)
Presenter: Chenghao Wang
Session: GC36D: Urban Areas and Global Change III Oral
Abstract Link: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm22/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1084322
Our new paper, “Vegetation dynamics influenced by climate change and human activities in the Hanjiang River Basin, central China“, is published in Ecological Indicators (IF: 6.263).
The Share Link to download a copy of our paper is https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S1470-160X(22)01059-7 (valid until Dec 11, 2022).
Authors: Shaokang Yang, Ji Liu, Chenghao Wang, Te Zhang, Xiaohua Dong, and Yanli Liu
Abstract: Assessing the dynamics of vegetation and its response to environmental changes is essential to understanding ecosystem changes and the sustainable use of natural resources. In this study, we investigated the impacts of climate change and human activities on vegetation growth in the Hanjiang River Basin. We classified the basin into the portion mainly affected by climate change (VClimate) and the portion affected by both climate change and anthropogenic activities (VClimate+Human). Using an improved residual trend method that considers both lag effect and nonlinear response, we analyzed the relative contributions of climate change and human activities to observed NDVI changes. Results suggest that the basin experienced a statistically significant increase in growing-season NDVI during 2001–2016 (0.047 decade-1). Precipitation was the dominant climatic factor for NDVI change in VClimate+Human, whereas precipitation and temperature were nearly equally important for NDVI change in VClimate. On average, both climate change and human activities promoted vegetation growth during the study period, and their average contributions were 41.4 % and 15.5 %, respectively. In particular, climate change and human activities in general enhanced vegetation growth in non-urban areas, while human activities mainly reduced vegetation growth in urban areas. The findings of this study can benefit regional ecological restoration and environmental management projects.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109586
Dr. Chenghao Wang will teach a new course, GEOG/METR 4970-004: Urban Climatology, in spring 2023.
