Xiaodong Chen

Research Seminar 

Hydrometeorological extremes in a changing climate

Xiaodong Chen

Monday, May 13

NWC 1313 / 3:00 PM

Changing climate in the Earth system has been causing more frequent and intense extreme events across scales. Our society is now faced with two key challenges regarding the water cycle: 1) understanding and predicting the evolving hydrological cycle and 2) ensuring water security while coping with the hydrometeorological threats. Effectively addressing these challenges requires new insights into the hydroclimate system in a physically consistent, accurate, and stakeholder-ready manner. Fortunately, advances in climate modeling and analysis offer a promising solution. In this talk, I focus on extreme precipitation and its better prediction and risk assessment. Specific research questions include: 1. How can we improve the prediction of extreme precipitation events in the western US? 2. How will such extreme events unfold in the future? 3. What engineering adaptations shall we take to handle these extremes in the future? To approach these questions, I leveraged high-resolution climate modeling and developed artificial intelligence analysis tools to interpret the modeling and observational data. Building on this established model-data fusion analytic framework, I plan to extend my future research to the hydrometeorological risks in the broad context of regional heterogeneity. As human-induced climate changes are going on, my goal is to evaluate their impact on the regional water cycle and provide actionable information to facilitate sustainable water resource management.