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Mr Zhi Li

Mr Zhi Li

Postdoctoral Fellow
Science
Centre for Marine Science & Innovation

A major challenge confronting the climate research community is that despite the dramatic acceleration in global ocean warming, it remains unclear how this heat uptake is distributed by basin and across water masses, and the associated physics of the processes regulating formation of, and heat uptake in, distinct water masses. Two particular water masses of note in this challenge are mode and intermediate waters in the subtropical and Southern Ocean, given their key role in the uptake and redistribution of heat over the past 50 years.

While my PhD research work investigated the physical mechanisms driving the geographic and seasonal variability in the formation of Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) in the Southern Ocean (Li et al. 2021; Li et al. 2022), as well as how much heat uptake is stored within the mode and intermediate waters over the subtropical and Southern Ocean (Li et al. 2022, under review), there is still much to learn about the physical processes controlling the uptake and redistribution of heat and carbon by SAMW, AAIW, and other mode and intermediate waters. It is my hope that by better understanding the processes controlling variability and heat uptake of SAMW, AAIW and other mode and intermediate waters, we can better understand the physical mechanisms that are driving the Southern Ocean and global ocean warming, and predict how ocean warming and sea-level change will play out in the future.

I am a physical oceanographer based at the Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC), UNSW Sydney. I completed my PhD from UNSW Sydney in 2022 (August 2018 - August 2022). Following this, I started working as a postdoctoral researcher at CCRC, UNSW Sydney, as part of the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS) program, to continue the research work that was launched by my PhD projects.

Mobile
0414360410
Location
Climate Change Research Centre Level 4, Mathews Building The University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052
  • Journal articles | 2024
    Liu Y; Cai W; Zhang Y; Lin X; Li Z, 2024, 'Near-term projection of Amazon rainfall dominated by phase transition of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation', npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 7,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Cai W; Ng B; Geng T; Jia F; Wu L; Wang G; Liu Y; Gan B; Yang K; Santoso A; Lin X; Li Z; Liu Y; Yang Y; Jin FF; Collins M; McPhaden MJ, 2023, 'Anthropogenic impacts on twentieth-century ENSO variability changes', Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, 4, pp. 407 - 418,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Hu R; Li Z; Wu D, 2023, 'A comparative analysis of the mesoscale thermohaline features across subarctic frontal zones in the Northern Hemisphere', Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 192,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Li Z; England MH; Groeskamp S, 2023, 'Recent acceleration in global ocean heat accumulation by mode and intermediate waters', Nature Communications, 14,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Wang H; Li Z; Li J; Lin X; Zheng XT; Fan L; Zhang Y, 2023, 'Interannual variation in the East Asian summer monsoon-tropical Atlantic SST relationship modulated by the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation', npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 6,
    Journal articles | 2023
    Yu SY; Fan L; Zheng XT; Zhang Y; Zhou ZQ; Li Z, 2023, 'Sources of Inter-Model Diversity in the Strength of the Relationship Between the Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall and El Niño-Southern Oscillation', Geophysical Research Letters, 50,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Li Z; Groeskamp S; Cerovečki I; England MH, 2022, 'The Origin and Fate of Antarctic Intermediate Water in the Southern Ocean', Journal of Physical Oceanography, 52, pp. 2873 - 2890,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Liu Y; Cai W; Lin X; Li Z, 2022, 'Increased extreme swings of Atlantic intertropical convergence zone in a warming climate', Nature Climate Change,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Wang H; Li Z; Lin X; Zhao J; Wu D, 2022, 'Adiabatic Processes Contribute to the Rapid Warming of Subpolar North Atlantic During 1993–2010', Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Blunden J; Boyer T; Dunn RJH; Allen J; Andersen A; Hammer G; Love-Brotak SE; Misch DJ; Riddle DB; Veasey SW; Ades M; Adler R; Aldred F; Allan RP; Allan R; Anderson J; Argüez A; Arosio C; Augustine JA; Azorin-Molina C; Barichivich J; Beck HE; Becker A; Bellouin N; Benedetti A; Berry DI; Blenkinsop S; Bock O; Bodin X; Bosilovich MG; Boucher O; Buehler SA; Calmettes B; Carrea L; Castia L; Christiansen HH; Christy JR; Chung ES; Coldewey-Egbers M; Cooper OR; Cornes RC; Covey C; Cretaux JF; Crotwell M; Davis SM; de Jeu RAM; Degenstein D; Delaloye R; Di Girolamo L; Donat MG; Dorigo WA; Durre I; Dutton GS; Duveiller G; Elkins JW; Fioletov VE; Flemming J; Foster MJ; Frith SM; Froidevaux L; Garforth J; Gentry M; Gobron N; Gupta SK; Hahn S; Haimberger L; Hall BD; Harris I; Hemming DL; Hirschi M; Ho SP; Hrbacek F; Hubert D; Hurst DF; Inness A; Isaksen K; John VO; Jones PD; Junod R; Kaiser JW; Kaufmann V; Kellerer-Pirklbauer A; Kent EC; Kidd R; Kim H; Kipling Z; Koppa A; Kraemer BM; Kratz DP; Lan X; Lantz KO; Lavers D; Loeb NG; Loyola D; Madelon R; Mayer M; McCabe MF; McVicar TR; Mears CA; Merchant CJ, 2021, 'State of the climate in 2020', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 102, pp. 1 - 481,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Li Z; England MH; Groeskamp S; Cerovecki I; Luo Y, 2021, 'The Origin and Fate of Subantarctic Mode Water in the Southern Ocean', JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, 51, pp. 2951 - 2972,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Liu Y; Li Z; Cai W; Lin X; Yang JC, 2021, 'Weakened ENSO-Ningaloo Niño/Niña Teleconnection Under Greenhouse Warming', Geophysical Research Letters, 48,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Liu Y; Li Z; Lin X; Yang JC, 2021, 'Enhanced Eastern Pacific ENSO-Tropical North Atlantic Connection Under Greenhouse Warming', Geophysical Research Letters, 48,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Stammerjohn S; Scambos T, 2021, 'ANTARCTICA AND THE SOUTHERN OCEAN', BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, 102, pp. S317 - S355,
    Journal articles | 2021
    Yu SY; Fan L; Zhang Y; Zheng XT; Li Z, 2021, 'Reexamining the Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall–ENSO Relationship From Its Recovery in the 21st Century: Role of the Indian Ocean SST Anomaly Associated With Types of ENSO Evolution', Geophysical Research Letters, 48,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Menviel L; Waugh DW; Spence P; Chamberlain MA; Lago V; Li Z; England MH, 2020, 'Natural carbon release compensates for anthropogenic carbon uptake when Southern Hemispheric westerlies strengthen', ,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Yang JC; Lin X; Xie SP; Zhang Y; Kosaka Y; Li Z, 2020, 'Synchronized tropical Pacific and extratropical variability during the past three decades', Nature Climate Change, 10, pp. 422 - 427,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Li Z; Luo Y, 2018, 'Response of the Tropical Indian Ocean to Greenhouse Gases and Aerosol Forcing in the GFDL CM3 Coupled Climate Model', Atmosphere - Ocean, 56, pp. 40 - 54,
  • Preprints | 2021
    Menviel L; Waugh DW; Spence P; Chamberlain M; Lago V; Li Z; England MH, 2021, Natural carbon release compensates for anthropogenic carbon uptake when Southern Hemispheric westerlies strengthen,

My current activities within UNSW are to investigate Southern Ocean ventilation and water-mass formation, as well as the heat uptake and redistribution by Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) in driving Southern Ocean warming and global ocean heat uptake. I have been looking at the formation and variability of SAMW and AAIW in the Southern Ocean, by reconciling their volume changes with formation mechanisms of subduction and water-mass transformation. I am currently working at investigating the ocean heat uptake and redistribution by the formation of SAMW and AAIW, for understanding Southern Ocean warming, and more broadly, global ocean warming.