Public Lecture by Wei Lun Visiting Professor

Professor Gabriel Ngar-cheung Lau

Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
Princeton University, USA
美國普林斯頓大學地球物理流體動力學實驗室
劉雅章教授

on

"Rainstorms, Typhoons and Cold Surges in East Asia:
Observation, Simulation and Impact of Climate Change"
東亞暴雨、颱風與寒潮：觀察、模擬和氣候變遷的影響

(in English)

on

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 at 5:00 pm

at

Sin Wai Kin Hall, G/F Esther Lee Building
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, the New Territories

Sponsored by Wei Lun Foundation Ltd.

 

Professor Gabriel Ngar-cheung Lau

A Biographical Sketch

Professor Gabriel Ngar-cheung Lau is the lead scientist of the Climate Diagnostics Project at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He concurrently serves as a Lecturer with the rank of Professor at the Department of Geosciences and Program of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Princeton University. Professor Lau was born in Hong Kong and spent his youth there. He majored in physics at United College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he received the B.Sc. degree in 1974. He proceeded to pursue graduate studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, and received the Ph.D. degree in atmospheric sciences in 1978. He then went to Princeton and has been associated with the research and teaching programs at GFDL throughout the past 31 years. Professor Lau's principal research interests are concerned with the behaviour of atmospheric and oceanic phenomena in various geographical regions, with typical time scales ranging from hours to several years. These features include day-night differences, day-to-day weather disturbances in warm and cold seasons, persistent flow structures, monsoonal circulations, and changes in the air-sea coupled system associated with El Nino. His primary research tools include datasets based on in situ observations and remote-sensing platforms, as well as output from experiments and simulations with numerical models. He has authored or coauthored over 100 publications in various scientific journals, and has been designated as a Highly Cited Researcher by the ISI Web of Knowledge.Professor Lau is a recipient of the Run Run Shaw Postgraduate Scholarship of CUHK (1974), Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award of the American Meteorological Society (AMS, 1990), Unusually Outstanding Performance Award of the U.S. Department of Commerce (1991), and Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) 120th Anniversary Distinguished Meteorologist Award (2003). He was elected as a Fellow of AMS (1991), and was editor of the AMS Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences (1996-1999). He was a contributing author of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was recognized by the Nobel Peace Prize (2007). He was an invited speaker at the Scientific Forum in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Southwestern Union University at Kunming, China (2008). Professor Lau has also served as the C.N. Yang Visiting Fellow at CUHK, Science Advisor to the HKO and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Visiting Professor at Peking University, and external reviewer at National Taiwan University. He was a member of various scientific committees of AMS, NOAA and the World Meteorological Organization.

Synopsis of the Lecture

A review is offered on the role of observations and computer models in climate and weather research. The applications of observational datasets and model tools to increased scientific understanding of various prevalent atmospheric phenomena in Asia are illustrated. Such meteorological features include the steady, continental-scale monsoons over South and East Asia, as well as higher-frequency fluctuations embedded in these background flow patterns. Of particular interest among the weather-scale systems in this region are diurnal (day/night) changes in precipitation and wind, Meiyu (Plum Rain) rainbelts in early summer over China/Japan, typhoons over the tropical western Pacific and South/East China Seas, and wintertime cold air outbreaks over the East Asian seaboard. The fidelity of state-of-the-art models in reproducing this range of atmospheric phenomena is assessed by comparing their output with in situ and satellite observations. The possible influences of climate change in the 21st century on the behaviour of these phenomena are discussed.

For CUHK members, please click here for on-line registration.
For alumni, please click here for on-line registration.
For public, please click here for on-line registration.