Dr Liling Chang PhD

Dr Liling Chang

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Assistant Professor

Dr. Liling Chang’s main research interest is to examine responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change, elevated atmospheric CO2, and disturbance events (fires, droughts). Her research focuses on integrating field observations, remote sensing data, and process-based models to quantify and predict ecosystem water, energy, carbon fluxes, productivity, and demography.

Qualifications

Ph.D. in Hydrometeorology – University of Arizona (2021)

M.S. in Earth Science (Geophysics Specialization) - University of Waterloo (2016)

B.S. in Earth Science (Geology Specialization) - University of Waterloo (2014)

B.S. in Earth Science (Geology Specialization) - China University of Petroleum (2014)

Biography

I completed my PhD work at the University of Arizona, mainly investigating water storage changes and underlying mechanisms arising from climate variations, human interventions, and local topography over drylands. Subsequently, during my postdoctoral training at Harvard University, I extended my research interest to predicting water-carbon dynamics of forest ecosystems under future climate change by applying data assimilation and terrestrial biosphere modeling. 

Teaching

Hydroclimatology: Climate and Water

Environmental Research Frontiers

Global Environmental Issues

Research

I am interested in examining responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change, elevated atmospheric CO2, and disturbance events (fires, droughts). My research focuses on integrating field observations, remote sensing data, and process-based models to quantify and predict ecosystem water, energy, carbon fluxes, productivity, and demography.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Chang, LL & Niu, GY 2023, 'The Impacts of Interannual Climate Variability on the Declining Trend in Terrestrial Water Storage over the Tigris–Euphrates River Basin', Journal of Hydrometeorology, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 549-560. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-22-0026.1

Yuan, R, Chang, LL & Niu, G 2021, 'Annual variations of T/ET in a semi-arid region: Implications of plant water use strategies', Journal of Hydrology, vol. 603, 126884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126884

Niu, GY, Fang, YH, Chang, LL, Jin, J, Yuan, H & Zeng, X 2020, 'Enhancing the Noah-MP Ecosystem Response to Droughts With an Explicit Representation of Plant Water Storage Supplied by Dynamic Root Water Uptake', Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, vol. 12, no. 11, e2020MS002062. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020MS002062

Chang, LL, Yuan, R, Gupta, HV, Winter, CL & Niu, GY 2020, 'Why Is the Terrestrial Water Storage in Dryland Regions Declining? A Perspective Based on Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Satellite Observations and Noah Land Surface Model With Multiparameterization Schemes Model Simulations', Water Resources Research, vol. 56, no. 11, e2020WR027102. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR027102

Yuan, RQ, Chang, LL, Gupta, H & Niu, GY 2019, 'Climatic forcing for recent significant terrestrial drying and wetting', Advances in Water Resources, vol. 133, 103425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2019.103425

Chang, LL, Dwivedi, R, Knowles, JF, Fang, YH, Niu, GY, Pelletier, JD, Rasmussen, C, Durcik, M, Barron-Gafford, GA & Meixner, T 2018, 'Why Do Large-Scale Land Surface Models Produce a Low Ratio of Transpiration to Evapotranspiration?', Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 123, no. 17, pp. 9109-9130. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029159

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