Staff information

Biography

Wenyu Zhou is an atmospheric scientist with expertise in tropical meteorology and large-scale climate dynamics. Before joining PNNL at 2020 June, he was a Project Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Before that, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography working with Prof. Shang-Ping Xie. Wenyu completed Ph.D. in Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences at Princeton University, advised by Prof. Isaac Held.

Personal Website: https://sites.google.com/view/zhouwy/

Research Interests

• Fundamental dynamics underlying intricate tropical phenomena such as hurricanes and monsoons, utilizing simplified models to distill particular processes from involved systems.
• Regional circulation and climate changes that arise from alterations in atmospheric dynamic over a wide spectrum of spatial and temporal scales, including planetary-scale circulation, tropical-extratropical teleconnection and local radiative-convective processes

Education and Credentials

• Ph.D. (2015), Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University, USA
• B.S. (2010), Hydrologic Engineering, Tsinghua University, China

PNNL Publications

2025

• Chang C., M. Zhao, S. Lubis, Z. Chen, K. Balaguru, S.M. Hagos, and L. Leung, et al. 2025. "Are North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones Modulated by the Madden-Julian Oscillation in HighResMIP AGCMs?." Journal of Climate 38, no. 12:2891-2916. PNNL-SA-203393. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-24-0509.1

2024

• Zhou W., L. Leung, S. Xie, and J. Lu. 2024. "An analytic theory for the degree of Arctic Amplification." Nature Communications 15, no. 1:Art No. 5060. PNNL-SA-196484. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48469-w

2023

• Nie Y., G. Chen, J. Lu, W. Zhou, and Y. Zhang. 2023. "Constraining the Varied Response of Northern Hemisphere Winter Circulation Waviness to Climate Change." Geophysical Research Letters 50, no. 6:Art. No. e2022GL102150. PNNL-SA-175652. doi:10.1029/2022GL102150
• Wang L., T. Sun, W. Zhou, M. Liu, and D. Li. 2023. "Deciphering the sensitivity of urban canopy air temperature to anthropogenic heat flux with a forcing-feedback framework." Environmental Research Letters 18, no. 9:Art. No. 094005. PNNL-SA-191853. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ace7e0
• Zhou W., L. Leung, and J. Lu. 2023. "The role of interactive soil moisture in land drying under anthropogenic warming." Geophysical Research Letters 50, no. 19:Art. No. e2023GL105308. PNNL-SA-190711. doi:10.1029/2023GL105308
• Zhou W., L. Leung, N. Siler, and J. Lu. 2023. "Future precipitation increase constrained by climatological pattern of cloud effect." Nature Communications 14, no. _:Art. No. 6363. PNNL-SA-190872. doi:10.1038/s41467-023-42181-x

2022

• Yang D., W. Zhou, and S.D. Seidel. 2022. "Substantial Influence of Vapour Buoyancy on Tropospheric Air Temperature and Subtropical Cloud." Nature Geoscience 15, no. 10:781-788. PNNL-SA-176724. doi:10.1038/s41561-022-01033-x
• Zhou W., L. Leung, and J. Lu. 2022. "Linking large-scale double-ITCZ bias to local-scale drizzling bias in climate models." Journal of Climate 35, no. 24:4365-4379. PNNL-SA-176880. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-22-0336.1
• Zhou W., L. Leung, and J. Lu. 2022. "Seasonally and regionally dependent shifts of the atmospheric westerly jets under global warming." Journal of Climate 35, no. 16:5433-5447. PNNL-SA-172800. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0723.1
• Zhou W., L. Leung, and J. Lu. 2022. "Seasonally dependent future changes in the US Midwest hydroclimate and extremes." Journal of Climate 35, no. 1:17-27. PNNL-SA-163253. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0012.1

2021

• Lu J., D. Xue, L. Leung, F. Liu, F. Song, B.E. Harrop, and W. Zhou. 2021. "The Leading Modes of Asian Summer Monsoon Variability as Pulses of Atmospheric Energy Flow." Geophysical Research Letters 48, no. 5:e2020GL091629. PNNL-SA-157035. doi:10.1029/2020GL091629
• Song F., L. Leung, J. Lu, L. Dong, W. Zhou, B.E. Harrop, and Y. Qian. 2021. "Emergence of seasonal delay of tropical rainfall during 1979-2019." Nature Climate Change 11, no. 7:605-612. PNNL-SA-155998. doi:10.1038/s41558-021-01066-x
• Zhou W., L. Leung, F. Song, and J. Lu. 2021. "Future changes in the Great Plains Low-Level Jet governed by seasonally dependent pattern changes in the North Atlantic Subtropical High." Geophysical Research Letters 48, no. 4:e2020GL090356. PNNL-SA-156288. doi:10.1029/2020GL090356
• Zhou W., L. Wang, D. Li, and L. Leung. 2021. "Spatial Pattern of Lake Evaporation Increases Under Global Warming Linked to Regional Hydroclimate Change." Communications Earth & Environment 2. PNNL-SA-168706. doi:10.1038/s43247-021-00327-z

2020

• Zhou W., L. Leung, J. Lu, D. Yang, and F. Song. 2020. "Contrasting Recent and Future ITCZ Changes from Distinct Tropical Warming Patterns." Geophysical Research Letters 47, no. 22:e2020GL089846. PNNL-SA-154107. doi:10.1029/2020GL089846