Xiaohong Liu
Professor
Reta A. Haynes Chair in Geosciences
Aerosols, cloud microphysics, aerosol-cloud interactions, climate model development, and climate modeling
Research
Dr. Liu and his group are interested in the following research areas: (1) Atmospheric aerosols and chemistry; (2) Cloud microphysics, especially aerosol-cloud interactions; (3) Model development and evaluation; and (4) Climate modeling.
1. Atmospheric Aerosols and Chemistry: we have been studying the life cycles of atmospheric aerosols (e.g., dust from deserts, black carbon from wildfires, sulfate and nitrate aerosol from air pollution), including their emission, chemistry, transport, dry deposition, and wet scavenging. These studies are based on the simulations from the global Community Earth System Model (CESM), Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), and regional Weather Research and Forecasting Model with chemistry (WRF-Chem). The radiative forcings of these aerosols due to aerosol-radiation interactions, aerosol-cloud interactions, and through changing the surface albedo by deposition in snow are investigated.
2. Cloud Microphysics and Aerosol-Cloud Interactions: we have been studying the microphysical processes (e.g., droplet activation, ice nucleation, Bergeron-Findeisen process) in clouds, particularly in mixed-phase and ice clouds. We investigated how the biomass burning aerosols from Western Africa interact with the marine stratocumulus over Southeast Atlantic by acting as cloud condensational nuclei (CCN), and how the mineral dust from deserts interacts with the Arctic mixed-phase clouds by acting as ice nucleating particles (INPs). These studies are validated with remote sensing and in situ aircraft and surface observations of cloud properties.
3. Model Development and Evaluation: Xiaohong Liu has been in the development team of the NCAR’s CESM and DOE’s E3SM. We developed the Modal Aerosol Module (MAM) and schemes of ice nucleation in mixed-phase and ice clouds for CESM and E3SM. CESM and E3SM have participated in the IPCC Assessment Reports. Dr. Liu is the co-chair of the NCAR CESM Chemistry-Climate Working Group. We have also implemented the MAM in the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model version 5 (GEOS-5) for climate and data assimilation studies. We have been improving the treatment of wildfires, stratospheric sulfate from volcanos, and land-use dust in E3SM.
4. Climate Modeling: we have been using the global and regional climate models to investigate the effects of aerosols (e.g., mineral dust, wildfire aerosols, pollution aerosols) on clouds and the hydrological cycles over North Africa, southern Africa, Western US, and South and East Asia. We found the important effects of black carbon deposition on Tibetan Plateau snowpacks on the South Asian Monsoon. We have been using variable resolution (VR) CESM model to study the effects of deposition of black carbon and dust on surface snow albedo and regional climate in the Rocky Mountain regions in the present-day and future warming scenarios.
Selected Publications
• Wei, L., Z. Lu, Y. Wang, X. Liu, W. Wang, C. Wu, X. Zhao, S. Rahimi, W. Xia, and Y. Jiang (2022), Black carbon-climate interactions regulate dust burdens over India revealed during COVID-19, Nature Communications, 13, 1839. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29468-1.
• Wu, C., Z. Lin, Y. Shao, X. Liu, and Y. Li (2022), Drivers of recent decline in dust storm activity over East Asia, Nature Communications, 13, 7105. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34823-3.
• Brown, H., X. Liu, R. Pokhrel, S. Murphy, Z. Lu, R. Saleh, T. Mielonen, H. Kokkola, T. Bergman, G. Myhre, R. B. Skeie, D. Watson-Paris, P. Stier, B. Johnson, N. Bellouin, M. Schultz, V. Vakkari, J. P. Beukes, P. G. van Zyl, S. Liu, and D. Chand (2021), Biomass burning aerosols in most climate models are too absorbing, Nature Communications, 12, 277.
• Wang, Y., W. Xia, X. Liu, S. Xie, W. Lin, Q. Tang, H.-Y. Ma, Y. Jiang, B. Wang, and G. J. Zhang (2021), Disproportionate control on aerosol burden by light rain, Nature Geoscience, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-00675-z.
• Zhao, B., Y. Wang, Y. Gu, K.-N. Liou, J. H. Jiang, J. Fan, X. Liu, L. Huang, and Y. L. Yung (2019), Ice nucleation by aerosols from anthropogenic pollution, Nature Geoscience, 12, 602–607, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0389-4.
• Lu, Z., X. Liu, Z. Zhang, C. Zhao, K. Meyer, C. Rajapakshe, C. Wu, Z. Yang, and J. E. Penner (2018), Biomass smokes from southern Africa can significantly enhance the brightness of stratocumulus over southeastern Atlantic Ocean, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 115, 2924–2929, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713703115.
• Liu, X., P.-L. Ma, H. Wang, S. Tilmes, B. Singh, R. C. Easter, S. J. Ghan, and P. J. Rasch (2016), Description and evaluation of a new 4-mode version of Modal Aerosol Module (MAM4) within version 5.3 of the Community Atmosphere Model, Geoscientific Model Development, 9, 505–522, doi:10.5194/gmd-9-505-2016.
• Liu, X., R. C. Easter, S. J. Ghan, R. Zaveri, P. Rasch, X. Shi, J.-F. Lamarque, A. Gettelman, H. Morrison, F. Vitt, A. Conley, S. Park, R. Neale, C. Hannay, A. Ekman, P. Hess, N. Mahowald, W. Collins, M. Iacono, C. Bretherton, M. Flanner, and D. Mitchell (2012), Toward a minimal representation of aerosols in climate models: Description and evaluation in the Community Atmosphere Model CAM5, Geoscientific Model Development, 5, 709-739, doi:10.5194/gmd-5-709-2012.
• Liu, X., X. Shi, K. Zhang, E. J. Jensen, A. Gettelman, D. Barahona, A. Nenes, and P. Lawson (2012), Sensitivity studies of dust ice nuclei effect on cirrus clouds with the Community Atmosphere Model CAM5, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 12, 12061-12079, doi:10.5194/acp-12-12061-2012.
• DeMott, P. J., A. Prenni, X. Liu et al. (2010), Predicting global atmospheric ice nuclei distributions and their impacts on climate, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 107, 11217-11222, doi:10.1073/pnas.0910818107.
• Liu, X., J. E. Penner, S. J. Ghan, and M. Wang (2007), Inclusion of Ice Microphysics in the NCAR Community Atmospheric Model Version 3 (CAM3), Journal of Climate, 20, 4526-4547.
• Liu, X., J. E. Penner, and M. Herzog (2005), Global simulation of aerosol dynamics: Model description, evaluation, and interactions between sulfate and nonsulfate aerosols, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, No. D18, D18206, doi:10.1029/2004JD005674.
• Liu, X., and J. E. Penner (2005), Ice nucleation parameterization for global models, Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 14, No.4, 499-514.
Education
Ph.D., Atmospheric Science, Nanjing University, P.R. China, 1992
M.S., Atmospheric Science, Nanjing University, P.R. China, 1989
B.S., (Highest honors) Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University, P.R. China, 1986
Awards
Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2023;
Fellow, American Meteorological Society (AMS), 2024;
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2022
Holder of Reta Haynes Chair in Geosciences, Texas A&M University, 2023
Distinguished Achievement Award for Faculty Research, College of Geosciences, Texas A&M University, 2022
Named to the list “Highly Cited Researchers” by Thomson-Reuters (now Clarivate Analytics), 2014; 2015; 2016; 2017; 2018
Editors’ Citation For Excellence in Refereeing, Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR)–Atmospheres, 2017; 2018
Wyoming Excellence Chair in Climate Science, University of Wyoming, 2013-2019
Sam D. Hakes Outstanding Graduate Research and Teaching Award, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Wyoming, 2018
Exceptional Contribution Program (ECP) Award, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2012
Outstanding Performance Award, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2010
World Meteorology Organization (WMO) Young Scientist Award, 2001
China Meteorological Administration (CMA) Prof. Tu Chang-Wang Young Scientist Award (1st class), 2000
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis Award (Honorable Mention, 3rd place), for paper in Atmospheric Environmental Research, 1998
Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow, Germany, 1996-1997
Elected into “100 Talent Program” of Chinese Academy of Science, 1996-1999
Links
ResearcherID Profile: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/E-9304-2011
Google scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OrDCS68AAAAJ&hl=en
Additional Information
2019.09-Present: Professor (tenured), Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA
2013.08-2019.08: Professor (tenured), Wyoming Excellence Chair in Climate Science, Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA
2006.01-2013.07: Senior Research Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, USA
2002.01-2005.12: Assistant Research Scientist (Research Faculty), Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
2000.02-2001.12: Research Fellow, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
1998.01-1998.04, 1999.10-2000.01: Visiting Scientist, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
1996.04-1997.05: Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow, Fraunhofer Institute for Atmospheric Environmental Research (IFU), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
1995.04-1996.03: Research Scientist, Working Group for Air Chemistry, Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus, Berlin, Germany
1994.07-1995.03, 1997.06-1999.09: Research Associate Professor, Research Professor, Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, P.R. China
1992.08-1994.07: Post-doctor, Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, P.R. China
