Dr. Shang-Ping Xie stands as a distinguished leader in climate science whose pioneering research has transformed our understanding of ocean-atmosphere interactions. He currently serves as the Roger Revelle Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, holding the inaugural chair named for pioneering researcher Roger Revelle. Born in Quzhou, China in 1963, he pursued his academic journey after the Cultural Revolution, earning his Bachelor of Science from Shandong College of Oceanography in 1984. His scholarly development continued with advanced studies at Tohoku University in Japan, where he obtained both his Master of Science in 1988 and Doctor of Science in 1991, establishing the foundation for his distinguished career in climate research. Prior to his appointment at Scripps in 2012, Dr. Xie served as a Professor of Meteorology at the University of Hawaiʻi, where he was faculty in the International Pacific Research Center of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.
Dr. Xie's groundbreaking research has fundamentally advanced our comprehension of climate dynamics through his formulation of key mechanisms including the wind-evaporation-sea surface temperature (WES) feedback and the Indian Ocean capacitor effect, which explain critical patterns in tropical climate variability. His influential 2013 Nature publication established a pivotal connection between the temporary slowdown in global warming and cooling patterns in the Pacific Ocean, reshaping scientific discourse on climate change trajectories. The warmer-get-wetter principle he developed for rainfall change in global warming has become a cornerstone concept for understanding regional precipitation patterns under climate change scenarios. His sophisticated modeling approaches to distinguish natural climate variability from anthropogenic influences, including his 2015 Nature Geoscience paper on tracking human-caused global warming, have provided essential methodological frameworks for climate attribution studies worldwide.
Recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate, Dr. Xie's scholarly impact extends across all three major ocean basins and monsoon systems of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, demonstrating the global significance of his contributions. His discovery of what Science magazine termed the longest island wake of the world exemplifies his ability to identify and explain remarkable climate phenomena that advance fundamental understanding of Earth's systems. Dr. Xie's research continues to address critical questions about what determines spatial distributions of climate, why climate varies over time, how preferred climate variability patterns form, and the predictability of climate systems. Currently leading cutting-edge investigations in regional patterns of global warming, dynamics of the Meiyu-Baiu rainband, and the mysteries of East Asian summer rains, his work remains at the forefront of climate science, providing essential insights for improving climate projections and understanding regional climate impacts in a warming world.
