Dr Zong-Liang Yang

The Climate Science Program’s mission is 1) to develop a unique and innovative climate science research and education program with a national and international reputation, 2) to carry out climate research that balances basic theoretical and modeling work with impacts assessment and societal applications, and 3) to help reduce vulnerability to and increase the advantage of the impacts of climatic variability and climatic change on Texas, USA and other parts of the world. The mission receives tremendous federal support from EPA, NASA and NOAA as well as support from the Geology Foundation. The CSP, led by Dr. Yang, consists of graduate research assistants, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates who are working on a wide variety of research questions. These include mathematical modeling of land-surface hydrology and its role in controlling weather and climate, characterizing vegetation and snow cover including their influences on the surface energy and water balances using ground-based and remotely-sensed datasets, quantifying the relative role of land versus oceans in determining rainfall in southwest and south central USA, developing tools for assessing the potential impacts of heavy precipitation associated with severe weather on urban watersheds and flash flood prediction, and investigating the impact of vegetation-derived chemicals on Texas air quality. For details, see http://www.geo.utexas.edu/climate/Research/index.htm