Lai-yung Ruby Leung

Lai-yung Ruby Leung is an atmospheric scientist internationally recognized in the field of Earth Systems modeling and hydrologic processes. She is known for her contributions to the development of local climate models, and for her understanding of the consequences of climate change.[1][2] Her interests are diverse across mountain hydrometeorology, aerosol-cloud interactions, orographic precipitation and climate extremes. She is currently (2019) one of the eight Battelle Fellows at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).[3]

Lai-yung Ruby Leung
Lai-yung Ruby Leung in 2010
Alma materChinese University of Hong Kong (BS) Texas A&M University (MS and PhD)
Known forEarth Systems Analysis, Climate Modeling
AwardsMember of National Academy of Engineering (2017)
Fellow at American Geophysical Union (2015)
Scientific career
FieldsClimate Models, Atmospheric Science, Hydrology
InstitutionsPacific Northwest National Laboratory

Education and early life

Leung completed her B.S. (1984) with honors in Physics and Statistics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.[2] She then took two years to teach at a local high school,[3] after which she earned her M.S. (1988) and Ph.D. (1991) in Atmospheric Science from Texas A&M University.[2] With her advisor, Gerald North, she wrote her dissertation on "Atmospheric Variability on a Zonally Symmetric Land Planet," which studied the effects of external forcing on the atmosphere.[4] For her postgraduate degree, she co-authored a paper titled "A study of long-term climate change in a simple seasonal nonlinear climate model."[5]

Career and research

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Leung completed her research dissertation at PNNL in 1989 before beginning her career as a research associate in 1991.[3] She then worked as a staff scientist and senior scientist before becoming a laboratory fellow in 2004 and a Battelle Fellow in 2017.[3] Her current research focuses on the dynamics of various land-atmosphere interactions as well as hydrological cycles. Her team at PNNL was the first group of researchers to link soot deposition with snowpack availability in the western United States.[6] They also found that the primary cause of intense hurricanes is a climate cycle known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO).[7][8]

Along with other PNNL scientists, Leung contributed to the assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Albert Arnold.[1][9] As a contributing author of the report's Regional Climate Projections, she helped disseminate the knowledge on the consequences of anthropogenic activities in global warming.[10][11]

Energy Exascale Earth System Model

In 2016, Leung was appointed as the chief climate scientist of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), previously known as the Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy (ACME) project, by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).[12][13] By shifting climate models from global to a regional scale, Leung and her team enhanced the efficiency of computational modeling.[1][14] The model provides twice as much as details than the previous simulations and further allows for focusing on local climate effects.[14] Leung's leadership was crucial in investigating climate change through the perspectives of various Earth System components including hydrological and biogeochemical cycles as well as cryosphere-ocean systems.[12][14][15] She is currently working on Phase II of the project that is expected to be completed by 2021.[16]

Professional service and membership

Leung is an editor of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Hydrometeorology [17] and the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmosphere.[18] She is co-chair of the Science Advisory Board Climate Working Group at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).[19] She is also a member of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Research Applications Board[20] and the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (BERAC).[21] In the past, she served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC)[22] and was a member of the Science Steering Committee for the Community Earth System Models.[23]

Workshops

As a part of BERAC, Leung organized a workshop entitled 'Second Atmospheric River Tracking Method Inter-comparison Project' where participants from the U.S. Federal Agencies, national laboratories, and U.S. and international universities attended.[24] The workshop provided guidance on utilizing algorithms to understand the uncertainties of atmospheric river science.[25][26] She has also organized several workshops and seminars sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),[27] DOE,[28] NOAA [29] and National Science Foundation (NSF).[30]

Awards and recognitions

Leung has been recognized in multiple national organizations. Her research on climate change has been featured in major news publications including Science, Popular Science, Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio among others.[1] Some of her achievements are listed below:

Publications

Leung has published over 250 peer-reviewed journal articles.[27] Her most cited articles include research on climate modeling and the effects of climate change.

References
  1. "DOE Pulse". web.ornl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  2. "PNNL: News - Six PNNL scientists elected AAAS fellows". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  3. "PNNL: News - PNNL scientist Ruby Leung appointed a Battelle Fellow". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  4. Leung, Lai-Yung; North, Gerald R. (1991-08-01). "Atmospheric Variability on a Zonally Symmetric Land Planet". Journal of Climate. 4 (8): 753–765. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1991)004<0753:avoazs>2.0.co;2. ISSN 0894-8755.
  5. Lin, R. Q.; Kreiss, H.; Kuang, W. J.; Leung, L. Y. (1991-07-01). "A study of long-term climate change in a simple seasonal nonlinear climate model". Climate Dynamics. 6 (1): 35–41. doi:10.1007/BF00210580. ISSN 1432-0894.
  6. "PNNL: Soot + Snow = Climate Change". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  7. "Powerful hurricanes strengthen faster now than 30 years ago". phys.org. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  8. "PNNL: News - Powerful hurricanes strengthen faster now than 30 years ago". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  9. "PNNL: Researchers Contribute to Nobel Peace Prize for Climate Change Awareness". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  10. "PNNL: News - PNNL scientists contribute to Nobel Prize-winning IPCC". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  11. "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change". The Nobel Peace Prize. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  12. "Ruby Leung Appointed to ACME Chief Climate Scientist | Earth and Environmental System Modeling". climatemodeling.science.energy.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  13. "The Leadership Team". E3SM - Energy Exascale Earth System Model. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  14. "How to fit a planet inside a computer—developing the energy exascale earth system model". phys.org. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  15. "Energy Exascale Earth System Model | Earth and Environmental System Modeling". climatemodeling.science.energy.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  16. "E3SM: The Energy Exascale Earth System Model Phase 2, (2018-2021) | Earth and Environmental System Modeling". climatemodeling.science.energy.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  17. "Journal of Hydrometeorology". American Meteorological Society. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  18. "Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres". agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  19. "CWG Members". sab.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  20. "WRF Research Applications Board (RAB) | MMM: Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology Laboratory". www.mmm.ucar.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  21. "PNNL: L. Ruby Leung Appointed to Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  22. "Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate - basc". dels.nas.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  23. "CESM Administration | SSC Members". www.cesm.ucar.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  24. "Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (BERAC)". U.S. Department of Energy |Office of Science. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  25. "CW3E Publication Notice: Atmospheric River Tracking Method Intercomparison Project (ARTMIP): Project Goals and Experimental Design – Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes". Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  26. Nguyen, Phu; Magnusdottir, Gudrun; Krishnan, Harinarayan; Collow, Allison; Prabhat; Lavers, David; Wilson, Anna; Wick, Gary; Walton, Daniel (2018-06-20). "Atmospheric River Tracking Method Intercomparison Project (ARTMIP): project goals and experimental design". Geoscientific Model Development. 11 (6): 2455–2474. ISSN 1991-959X.
  27. "Center for Climate Sciences". Center for Climate Sciences. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  28. "Community Modeling and Long-Term Predictions of Integrated Water Cycles" (PDF). U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. September 2012.
  29. "Participants". www.cpo.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  30. "CESM Workshops: 2012 LMWG Workshop Presentations". www.cesm.ucar.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  31. "Leung". Honors Program. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  32. "PNNL: News - PNNL scientist elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  33. "PNNL: L. Ruby Leung elected AMS Fellow". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  34. "List of Fellows". American Meteorological Society. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  35. "Historic Fellows". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  36. "PNNL: Ruby Leung Elected AAAS Fellow". www.pnnl.gov. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  37. "Two PNNL researchers elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering". BIOENGINEER.ORG. 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  38. "Dr. Ruby Leung". NAE Website. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  39. admin. "Member Directory". Washington State Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
  40. Herald, The Tri-city. "PNNL scientists join Washington State Academy of Sciences". tri-cityherald. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  41. "International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces 2002". The Interaction Design Foundation. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
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