Short biography:
Dr. Zhou Wen obtained her PhD in City University of Hong Kong in 2004. She was Alexander Von Humboldt Fellow in 2008. She is scientific advisor to HKO since 2008. She is currently Associate Professor in School of energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong.
She has published about 130 SCI papers, her research area focuses on East Asia monsoon climate, tropical intraseasonal oscillation, different types of El Nino and their effects on climate. She also looks into natural hazards such as flood/drought, cold surge and heat wave, sea level rise / storm surge over Asia-pacific region and their relationship with different climate drivers in both present and future scenarios.
Abstract:
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a prominent interannual variability with widespread and prolonged climate impact. In this talk, I will talk about (1) Direct and indirect ENSO modulation of winter temperature over the Asian–Pacific–American region: In winter, ENSO is likely to induce the northward displacement of the East Asian trough. The temperature variations in the East Asian–Western Pacific region are controlled mainly by the northward displacement of the East Asian trough. In contrast, ENSO demonstrates a weak direct relation to the temperature variation over the East Asian–Western Pacific region. On the other hand, temperature variations over the western North American and tropical eastern Pacific are dominated by ENSO forcing. (2)Water vapor transport over East Asia-Western North Pacific in association with ENSO: In summer, the moisture circulation over East Asia and the western North Pacific (WNP) is dominated by two well-separated modes. The first mode exhibits an anticyclonic (cyclonic) moisture circulation over tropical–subtropical East Asia–WNP with an easterly (westerly) transport over the tropical WNP–Indian Ocean; the second mode displays an alternating pattern with an anticyclonic (cyclonic) moisture circulation over the subtropical WNP layered between two cyclonic (anticyclonic) circulations. Both modes couple well with the ENSO signal during its quasi-4-yr cycle. (3) Regional drought risk assessment under ENSO conditions: The drought risk under El Niño reveals that northern regions are likely to suffer from drought rather than flood in the developing phase and the reverse in the decaying phase. Southeastern China and the Yangtze River basin are vulnerable to flood rather than drought in the mature and decaying spring, with Southeastern China subjected to drought in the decaying summer. Such a distinctive regional pattern of drought risks is closely connected with the abnormal moisture supply patterns modulated by ENSO in different phases
Arranged date for the seminar talk: May 14, 2018