Research: Graduate Student Profile

 

Snapshots...

Jinbao Li
Climate Studies, LDEO

M.S. Physical Geography, Lanzhou University, China, 2003.
B.S. Physical Geography, Lanzhou University, China, 2000.

"My benefits from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences are much more than what I could imagine prior to being here, both scientifically and culturally. Professors and Lamont scientists not only teach me up-to-date knowledge, but more importantly show me how to explore the unanswered scientific questions independently. Lamont welcomes international students/scholars, and I've never felt alone in this big family."

Understanding the Asian Monsoon Variability from Tree-ring Records

The Asian monsoon system is one of the largest and most active climate systems on the earth, with its affects on dozens of countries and nearly half of the world's population. It is also an important participant of global climate change through its interactions with other climate systems such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Greater understanding of the monsoon system will enrich our knowledge on global climate as well as benefit the sustainable development over the monsoon-affected areas.

However, our knowledge on long-term monsoon variability is still quite limited, mainly due to the shortness of direct instrumental records over these areas. To this end tree-ring analysis is essential in climate studies, as growth rings of trees provide the exactly-dated, annually resolved estimates of past climate. My research is focused on developing a large tree-ring network over China, a country heavily impacted by the Asian monsoon. Doing so allows us to reconstruct last several hundred years moisture and/or temperature variability for much of the country. With such a more complete record we are able to understand how the monsoon strength has varied and what are the forcings of its variability. This knowledge will help to improve the prediction of the monsoon variations on annual to decadal and longer time scales.

Advisors: Kevin Griffin, Peter deMenocal, Lamont researcher Edward Cook.