As Women’s History Month 2023 approaches, it’s time to reflect on the incredible achievements of women throughout history and in our present day. It’s also essential to recognize those who are working tirelessly to continue pushing for progress and equity for women in all areas of life. One such person is Liping Zhang, an advocate for women’s rights and empowerment. In this article, we will highlight some of Zhang’s notable accomplishments and explore how we can all celebrate Women’s History Month 2023 while advancing the cause of women’s equality.
March is Women’s History Month and NOAA Research celebrated by asking women who make significant impacts in scientific research, leadership, and support throughout the organization to share their experiences working towards the mission of Climate Resilience and preparing for a Climate-Ready Nation. One of the women interviewed was Liping Zhang, a research scientist at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamic Laboratory (GFDL).
Zhang’s research focuses on decadal to centennial climate variability and predictability, particularly the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation, the Pacific decadal oscillation, and the Southern Ocean centennial variabilities. Her work aims to explore the mechanisms that cause variability and the impact of anthropogenic forcings using both observations and climate models. Her latest research is focused on multiyear to decadal prediction of sea level over the North Atlantic Ocean and U.S east coast, which aims to advance scientific understanding of the connections between the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and mean sea level/extreme sea level (ESL) events along the east coast of the United States.
The accelerated sea level rise in the North Atlantic Ocean threatens coastal communities throughout the entire U.S east coast, and the warming of coastal waters is altering marine ecosystems. It is crucial to develop good prediction skills for future changes of sea level for planning purposes, which is central to climate resilience. Zhang’s research will contribute to better predictions and enable better socioeconomic management and decision-making by providing a deeper understanding of the relationship between sea level and the AMOC, including the impact of human-caused forcings and natural variabilities.
When asked what climate resilience or climate-ready nation means to her, Zhang describes it as a collective understanding of reducing the impact of climate change and adapting to its effects in order to achieve prosperity, health, security, and continued growth. NOAA works with federal partners, tribes, communities, and businesses across the country to provide products and services that promote resilience in the face of climate change. For instance, NOAA helps coastal communities adapt to sea level rise, provides early drought warnings to farmers, rural residents, tribal and indigenous communities, works with urban communities to map heat inequities, and collects and stores the authoritative record of greenhouse gas measurements and historical weather, ocean, and climate data.
Zhang is part of the Seasonal-to-Decadal Variability and Predictability Division at GFDL, which has two initiatives this year aimed at western U.S. drought and sea level predictability along U.S. coasts. The division aims to understand the physical processes leading to changes in drought and exploring the seasonal to decadal predictability of sea level to assess whether improving model resolutions could result in more accurate sea level predictions.
The interview with Zhang also covers how she enjoys learning new things and doing creative work, exploring the unknown, and discovering new and exciting findings. She relishes the sense of accomplishment she gets from solving scientific questions related to climate science, using logical thinking. Zhang also enjoys the freedom to pursue research on topics that she’s deeply interested in and enjoys collaboration opportunities with curious and enthusiastic colleagues, interns, postdocs, and visitors.
Working women face significant challenges, and Zhang is no exception. She cites finding a balance between career and family as the most significant challenge, particularly when kids are very little and our career is in a rising stage. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this challenge when she had to work remotely from home and also take care of her two-year-old and six-year-old children. To overcome this challenge, Zhang recommends helping children establish their routine through making a timetable and cultivating reading culture. This has enabled her to take advantage of small moments in her children’s day to make progress in her work, such as conducting numerical experiments on her computer, joining virtual meetings, and coding, thinking, or writing manuscripts when her children are asleep.
Zhang also describes her two favorite moments in her career, where her research covered by the media. In 2019, she was the lead author in a paper published in Nature Climate Change titled “Natural variability of Southern Ocean convection as a driver of observed climate trends,” which proposed a new mechanism to explain the observed Southern Ocean Sea surface temperature and Antarctic Sea ice trends between 1979 and 2015. This paper garnered media attention, and Zhang was quoted in a story by Carbon Brief. At the end of 2022, she published another paper in Nature Profile Communications Earth & Environment, which suggested that observed persistent Antarctic Sea ice decline after 2016 was partially attributed to the subsurface warming over the Southern Ocean, which was predictable on multiyear timescales. This paper also attracted media attention, and Zhang was quoted in The Washington Post. These moments were encouraging and exciting because they recognized her work and indicated that it is beneficial to the nation, people, and society.
In conclusion, the interview with Liping Zhang highlights her significant contributions to scientific research, leadership, and support for preparing the United States for climate resilience. Her work is crucial in understanding the mechanisms that cause climate variability and the impact of both human-caused and natural forces on the climate. By finding a balance between career and family and overcoming various challenges, Zhang has become a successful scientist who inspires aspiring scientists.
