Shang-Ping Xie

Professor of Meteorology and
Co-Leader for IPRC Indo-Pacific Climate Theme

CV in English/ Japanese/ Chinese

Research Interest:

My research centers on ocean-atmosphere interactions and their role in climate formation, variability, and change. The ocean's importance for climate is evident from the facts that most of solar radiation absorption occurs at the Earth surface and that the ocean occupies seventy percent of the Earth surface. Examples of ocean-atmosphere interaction effects are abundant, including the spontaneous generation of El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and the northward-displaced tropical rain band called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic. My research contributes to answering such fundamental questions as what determines the spatial distributions of climate, why it varies in time, how preferred patterns of climate variability form, and how predictable climate is.

I carry out both diagnostic and modeling studies, using observations and numerical models of the ocean, atmosphere, and their coupled system. Geographically, my work covers all three major oceans of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian, and monsoons of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Our research has led to the formulation of the wind-evaporation-sea surface temperature (WES) feedback mechanism and the Indian Ocean capacitor effect, and the discovery of what Science magazine called the longest island wake of the world. The WES feedback is important for the northward displacement of the ITCZ and the tropical meridional mode. For more information, please see narrative research highlights.

Full List of Publications

Selected Publications

Review Articles

Previous Affiliations

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Japan, 1994-1999
Research Associate, JISAO, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1993-1994
Visiting Scientist, AOS Program, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1991-1993

Education

D.Sc., Tohoku University, Japan, 1991
M.Sc., Tohoku University, Japan, 1988
Dalian University of Foreign Languages, China, 1984-85
B.Sc., Shandong College of Oceanography, China, 1984

Honors

  • China Ministry of Education Oversea Scholarship, 1985-1986
  • Japan Ministry of Education (Monbusho) Scholarship, 1986-1991
  • The Yamamoto-Shyono Medal for the 1994 Tellus paper on coupled ocean-atmospheric modeling of the Pacific ITCZ, Meteorological Society of Japan, 1996
  • Ocean University of China President's Special Award for Outstanding Collaborative Research, 2001
  • The Society Medal for contributions to understanding air-sea interaction and its role in climate formation and variability, Meteorological Society of Japan, 2002

    • Professional Service

  • Councilor, the Oceanographical Society of Japan, 2007-
  • Member, NOAA Climate Prediction Program for the Americas (CPPA) Science Panel, 2006-2008
  • Member, US CLIVAR Process Studies and Model Improvement Panel, 2005-07
  • Member, US CLIVAR Pan American Implementation Panel, 2000-2004
  • Member, PIRATA Scientific Steering Committee, 2001-
  • Contributor, United Nations Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report
  • Session convener, American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting (2005, 2002), AGU Spring Meeting (2004), AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting (2006), AGU Western Pacific Geophysical Meeting (2006, 2004, 2000), Meteorological Society of Japan Spring Meeting (2006, 2004)
  • Proposal review for US NASA, NSF, NOAA, DOE, NOPP; NSF of China, Chiese Academy of Sciences; UK Natural Environment Research Council

    Editorial Service

  • Editor, Journal of Climate, 2006 -
  • Editor, Journal of Meteorological Society of Japan (-->Free access to journal papers), 2000-2006
  • Volume editor, AGU Geophysical Monograph (Vol. 147, pp. 414) entitled "Earth Climate: The Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction", 2003-2004
    • ( Table of Contents and Preface + Book cover)
  • Peer reviewer for journals (Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, Atmosphere-Ocean, Atmospheric Research, Atmospheric Science Letters, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Climate Dynamics, Climate of the Past, Continental Shelf Research, Deep Sea Research (Part I and Part II), Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans, Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, Geophysical Research Letters, International J. Remote Sensing, J. Applied Meteorology, J. Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, J. Atmospheric Sciences, J. Climate, J. Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, J. Geophysical Research-Oceans, J. Marine Systems, J. Meteorological Society of Japan, J. Physical Oceanography, J. Oceanography, Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, Monthly Weather Review, Nature, Nature Geoscience, Oceanologica Acta, Ocean Engineering, Ocean Modeling, Ocean Science, Paleoceanography, Progress in Oceanography, Remote Sensing of Environment, Quarterly J. of Royal Meteorological Society, Science, Theoretical and Applied Climatology); book chapters (Elsevier Science, Kluwer Academic Publishers, World Scientific Publishing)

    Funded Projects

    Students

    Cordelia's art gallery

    E-mail: xie@hawaii.edu

    Mailing address:

    International Pacific Research Center
    School of Earth and Ocean Science and Technology
    University of Hawaii
    1680 East West Road, POST 401
    Honolulu, HI 96822

    Office: Pacific Ocean Sci & Tech (POST) Building Room 413E --> Map

    Phone: (808)956-6758; Fax: (808)956-9425