Zhihong Tan

Department of the Geophysical Sciences
University of Chicago

Office Address:
Room 473, 5734 S Ellis Ave,
Chicago, IL 60637

Email: tanzh ‘AT’ uchicago.edu

Personal webpage

I am interested in clouds and their interactions with the large-scale environment. Clouds are intriguingly complicated: they span a large range of spatial scales and involve many tightly coupled processes. My research aims at understanding the robust physical mechanisms and effects of clouds with a hierarchy of models and idealized experiments. New understanding on the essential mechanisms and simple analytical models can help us to reduce the uncertainty on cloud responses and feedbacks.

Biography

Academic Position

Postdoctoral Scholar at the Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2016-present

Academic Assistant in Climate Dynamics Group, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, 2013-2016

Education

Ph.D in Environmental Science and Engineering, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, 2016

M.S in Environmental Science and Engineering, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, 2013

B.S in Math and Applied Math, Peking University, Beijing, China, 2009

Awards and Fellowships

Vanoni Student Fellowship, Caltech, 2009-2010

Outstanding Graduate of Peking University, 2009

Mingde Scholarship, Peking University, 2005-2009

Teaching Assistant

Cloud and Boundary Layer Dynamics, 651-2126-00, ETH Zurich, 2014

Large-Scale Atmosphere Dynamics, ESE 133, Caltech, 2012

Methods in Applied Statistics and Data Analysis, ACM/ESE 118, Caltech, 2011

Global Environmental Science: Climate Change, ESE/Ge 148a, Caltech, 2010

Publications

  • Z. Shen, K.G. Pressel, Z. Tan, and T. Schneider, 2020: Statistically steady state large-eddy simulations forced by an idealized GCM: 1. Forcing framework and simulation characteristics, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 12, e2019MS001814.
    [PDF] [Official Version]

  • Tan, Z., C. M. Kaul, K. G. Pressel, Y. Cohen, T. Schneider, and J. Teixeira, 2018: An extended eddy-diffusivity mass-flux scheme for unified representation of subgrid-scale turbulence and convection. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 10, 770-800.
    [PDF] [Official Version]

  • Tan, Z., T. Schneider, J. Teixeira, and K. G. Pressel, 2017: Large-eddy simulation of subtropical cloud-topped boundary layers: 2. Cloud response to climate change. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 9, 19-38, doi:10.1002/2016MS000804.
    [PDF] [Official version]

  • Tan, Z., T. Schneider, J. Teixeira, and K. G. Pressel, 2016: Large-eddy simulation of subtropical cloud-topped boundary layers: 1. A forcing framework with closed surface energy balance. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 8, 1565-1585, doi: 10.1002/2016MS000655.
    [PDF] [Official version]

  • Pressel, K. G., S. Mishra, T. Schneider, C. M. Kaul, Z. Tan, 2017: Numerics and subgrid-scale modeling in large eddy simulations of stratocumulus clouds. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 9, 1342-1365, doi: 10.1002/2016MS000778.
    [PDF][Official Version]

  • Brient, F., T. Schneider, Z. Tan, S. Bony, X. Qu, and A. Hall, 2016: Shallowness of tropical low clouds as a predictor of climate models’ response to warming. Climate Dynamics, 47, 433-449. Correction, Climate Dynamics, 2021.
    [PDF] [Official version] [Correction PDF]

  • Pressel, K. G., C. M. Kaul, T. Schneider, Z. Tan, and S. Mishra, 2015: Large-eddy simulation in an anelastic framework with closed water and entropy balances. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 7, 1425–1456, doi:10.1002/2015MS000496.
    [PDF] [Official version]

Blog Posts