Staff information

Biography

Xiaodong Chen is currently a research scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). His research focuses on the improved understanding of hydroclimate variability and extremes in a changing climate, and tackling the related societal resiliency and sustainability challenges based on an integrated approach (regional climate modeling, remote sensing, and machine learning). Before moving to the east side of Washington in 2018, he spent six years in Seattle and received both Ph.D. and M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington. Personal website: www.xiaodongchen.com

Research Interests

• Land Surface Hydrological Processes
• Regional Climate Modeling and Applications
• Machine Learning and Neuralhydorlogy
• Engineering Hydrometeorology

Education and Credentials

• Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington
• M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington
• B.E., Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University

Affiliations and Professional Service

• Associate Editor, Journal of Hydrometeorology
• Member, American Geophysical Union
• Member, American Meteorological Society
• Member, American Society of Civil Engineers

Awards and Recognitions

• Pathway to Excellence Award, PNNL, 2021
• Editor's Award (Journal of Hydrometeorology), American Meteorological Society, 2020
• EED Team-Of-The-Year Award, PNNL, 2019
• Editor's Award, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, 2019
• Friend of Tsinghua-Huang Qianheng Scholarship, Tsinghua University, 2010
• Allen T. Chwang Award of Fluid Mechanics, Tsinghua Univeristy, 2009

PNNL Publications

2024

• Feng Z., X. Chen, and L. Leung. 2024. "How Might the May 2015 Flood in the U.S. Southern Great Plains Induced by Clustered MCSs Unfold in the Future?." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 129, no. 8:Art. No. e2023JD039605. PNNL-SA-186794. doi:10.1029/2023JD039605
• Lu Y., Z. Yu, J.D. Albertson, H. Chen, L. Hu, A.G. Pendergrass, and X. Chen, et al. 2024. "Understanding the influence of urban form on the spatial pattern of precipitation." Earth's Future 12, no. 1:Art. No. e2023EF003846. PNNL-SA-192688. doi:10.1029/2023EF003846

2023

• Chen X., L. Leung, and L. Dong. 2023. "Antecedent Hydrometeorological Conditions of Wildfire Occurrence in the Western U.S. in a Changing Climate." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 128, no. 22:Art. No. e2023JD039136. PNNL-SA-191888. doi:10.1029/2023JD039136
• Chen X., L. Leung, and N. Sun. 2023. "Weather Systems Connecting Modes of Climate Variability to Regional Hydroclimate Extremes." Geophysical Research Letters 50, no. 24:Art. No. e2023GL105530. PNNL-SA-187578. doi:10.1029/2023GL105530
• Chen X., L. Leung, Y. Gao, Y. Liu, and M.S. Wigmosta. 2023. "Sharpening of Cold-season Storms over the Western United States." Nature Climate Change 13, no. 2:167-173. PNNL-SA-179916. doi:10.1038/s41558-022-01578-0
• Li J., Y. Qian, L. Leung, X. Chen, Z. Yang, and Z. Feng. 2023. "Potential weakening of the June 2012 North American derecho under future warming conditions." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 128, no. 2:Art. No. e2022JD037494. PNNL-SA-175153. doi:10.1029/2022JD037494
• Qin H., S.A. Klein, H. Ma, K. Van Weverberg, Z. Feng, X. Chen, and M. Best, et al. 2023. "Summertime Near-Surface Temperature Biases Over the Central United States in Convection-Permitting Simulations." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 128, no. 22:Art. No. e2023JD038624. PNNL-SA-193769. doi:10.1029/2023JD038624
• Yang Z., Y. Qian, P. Xue, J. Wang, T. Chakraborty, W. Pringle, and J. Li, et al. 2023. "Moisture Sources of Precipitation in the Great Lakes Region: Climatology and Recent Changes." Geophysical Research Letters 50, no. 5:Art. No. e2022GL100682. PNNL-SA-170910. doi:10.1029/2022GL100682
• Zhang J., L. Yang, M. Yu, and X. Chen. 2023. "Response of extreme rainfall to atmospheric warming and wetting: implications for hydrologic designs under a changing climate." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 128, no. 12:Art. No. e2022JD038430. PNNL-SA-186483. doi:10.1029/2022JD038430

2022

• Chen X., L. Leung, S. Wang, and Z. Duan. 2022. Understanding the Physics Representation of Deep Learning Models in Environmental Applications. PNNL-33399. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Understanding the Physics Representation of Deep Learning Models in Environmental Applications
• Fan J., Y. Zhang, J. Wang, J. Jeong, X. Chen, S. Zhang, and Y. Lin, et al. 2022. "Contrasting Responses of Hailstorms to Anthropogenic Climate Change in Different Synoptic Weather Systems." Earth's Future 10, no. 8:Art. No. e2022EF002768. PNNL-SA-159712. doi:10.1029/2022EF002768
• Fan J., Y. Zhang, J. Wang, J. Jeong, X. Chen, S. Zhang, and Y. Lin, et al. 2022. "Contrasting Responses of Hailstorms to Anthropogenic Climate Change in Different Synoptic Weather Systems." Earth's Future 10, no. 8:Art. No. e2022EF002768. PNNL-SA-170992. doi:10.1029/2022EF002768
• Wang Q., L. Yang, Y. Yang, and X. Chen. 2022. "Contrasting Climatic Trends of Atmospheric River Occurrences over East Asia." Geophysical Research Letters 49, no. 19:Art. No. e2022GL099646. PNNL-SA-178185. doi:10.1029/2022GL099646
• Wigmosta M.S., Z. Duan, W.A. Perkins, M.C. Richmond, B.J. Bellgraph, X. Chen, and L. Leung. 2022. Model Advancements to Enable Impact Analysis of Climate Change on Streamflow Temperature. PNNL-34177. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Model Advancements to Enable Impact Analysis of Climate Change on Streamflow Temperature
• Yang Y., L. Yang, X. Chen, Q. Wang, and F. Tian. 2022. "Climate Leads to Reversed Latitudinal Changes in Chinese Flood Peak Timing." Earth's Future 10, no. 6:Art. No. e2022EF002726. PNNL-SA-173526. doi:10.1029/2022EF002726

2021

• Chen X., L. Leung, Y. Gao, and Y. Liu. 2021. "Response of US West Coast Mountain Snowpack to Local Sea Surface Temperature Perturbations: Insights from Numerical Modeling and Machine Learning." Journal of Hydrometeorology 22, no. 4:1045-1062. PNNL-SA-157939. doi:10.1175/JHM-D-20-0127.1
• Dong L., L. Leung, Y. Qian, Y. Zou, F. Song, and X. Chen. 2021. "Meteorological environments associated with California wildfires and their potential roles in wildfire changes during 1984-2017." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 126, no. 5:e2020JD033180. PNNL-SA-151787. doi:10.1029/2020JD033180
• Wang L., Y. Qian, L. Leung, X. Chen, C. Sarangi, J. Lu, and F. Song, et al. 2021. "Multiple metrics informed projections of future precipitation in China." Geophysical Research Letters 48, no. 18:e2021GL093810. PNNL-SA-163252. doi:10.1029/2021GL093810

2020

• Andresen C.G., D.M. Lawrence, C.J. Wilson, D.A. McGuire, C.D. Koven, K. Schaefer, and E.E. Jafarov, et al. 2020. "Soil moisture and hydrology projections of the permafrost region - a model intercomparison." The Cryosphere 14, no. 2:445-459. PNNL-SA-151044. doi:10.5194/tc-14-445-2020
• Chen X. 2020. "Safety Design of Water Infrastructures in A Modern Era." In Resilience of Large Water Management Infrastructure, edited by F Houssain. 111-124. Cham:Springer Nature. PNNL-SA-147719. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-26432-1_8
• Chen X., and F. Hossain. 2020. "Infrastructure-Relevant Storms of the Last Century." In Resilience of Large Water Management Infrastructure, edited by F Hossain. 61-75. Cham:Springer Nature. PNNL-SA-147718. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-26432-1_5
• Chen X., and L. Leung. 2020. "Response of Landfalling Atmospheric Rivers on the U.S. West Coast to Local Sea Surface Temperature Perturbations." Geophysical Research Letters 47, no. 18:e2020GL089254. PNNL-SA-155435. doi:10.1029/2020GL089254
• Yan H., N. Sun, X. Chen, and M.S. Wigmosta. 2020. "Next-Generation Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Design: Advances and Opportunities." Frontiers in Water 2. PNNL-SA-152783. doi:10.3389/frwa.2020.545051

2019

• Chen X., and F. Hossain. 2019. "Understanding Future Safety of Dams in a Changing Climate." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 100, no. 8:1395-1404. PNNL-SA-143310. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0150.1
• Chen X., L. Leung, M.S. Wigmosta, and M.C. Richmond. 2019. "Impact of Atmospheric Rivers on Surface Hydrological Processes in Western U.S. Watersheds." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 124, no. 16:8896-8916. PNNL-SA-141431. doi:10.1029/2019JD030468
• Chen X., Z. Duan, L. Leung, and M.S. Wigmosta. 2019. "A Framework to Delineate Precipitation-Runoff Regimes: Precipitation vs. Snowpack in the Western U.S." Geophysical Research Letters 46, no. 22:13044-13053. PNNL-SA-141385. doi:10.1029/2019GL085184
• Perkins W.A., Z. Duan, N. Sun, M.S. Wigmosta, M.C. Richmond, X. Chen, and L. Leung. 2019. "Parallel Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) using Global Arrays." Environmental Modelling & Software 122. PNNL-SA-141147. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.104533

2018

• Chen X., L. Leung, Y. Gao, Y. Liu, M.S. Wigmosta, and M.C. Richmond. 2018. "Predictability of Extreme Precipitation in Western U.S. Watersheds Based on Atmospheric River Occurrence, Intensity, and Duration." Geophysical Research Letters 45, no. 21:11693-11701. PNNL-SA-136740. doi:10.1029/2018GL079831