Dr. Xuebin Zhang is a Principal Research Scientist working at Australia CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Division. He obtained his Ph.D. in Oceanography from University of Washington (U.S.) and had his postdoctoral training at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (U.S.). In 2010, he joined CSIRO as a sea-level scientist, and has been actively working on sea-level rise, climate change and variability, ocean and climate modelling.
Sea-level rise is an urgent issue for our society to understand and take actions to adapt and mitigate. Xuebin’s research is strategically targeted to address this need by providing better and reliable sea-level rise information. His works on regional sea level change and projection have made him a well-recognized and trusted advisor in sea-level rise both nationally and internationally, e.g., evidenced by frequent requests for his expert’s comments from Australian and international government agencies and his sea-level projection product for the 21st Century being used by ~20 countries including Australia. He also pioneered in producing high-resolution (~10 km) sea level projections, by dynamically downscaling the global climate model simulations, which inspired other international research groups to follow. His current work leading the CSHOR Sea Level Project has also made significant progress in understanding heat uptake and redistribution in the Southern Ocean, separating atmospheric forcing in driving changes of ocean temperature and salinity, ocean circulation and sea level, deriving high-resolution sea-level fingerprints, and closing global and regional sea-level budgets.
He has published ~50 articles in leading professional journals, including six in the Nature publishing group and one by Science. He gained worldwide recognition through service on international research advisory panels like the Pacific Panel of the Climate Variability, Predictability and Change (CLIVAR) program, through invited and plenary talks at international conferences and workshops, by regularly convening sea-level sessions at several international conferences like Asia Oceania Geosciences Society Annual Conferences, and by granting interviews to leading news outlets like the Washington Post, Agence France Presse, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Sydney Morning Herald.
He has secured in millions of dollars in research funding and has been leading several large research projects such as the Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) Sea Level Project, CSIRO Ocean Downscaling Strategic Project and the Centre for Southern Hemisphere Ocean Research (CSHOR) Sea Level Project. He is also very active in academic supervision by supervising two postdoctoral fellows, seven Ph.D. students and four honours students during his CSIRO appointment.
As a recognition of his excellent achievements, Xuebin was awarded the prestigious CSIRO Julius Career Award (2018- 2022), which is designed to advance the careers of exceptional early to mid-career researchers.
Role: Principal Research Scientist
Field of Research: Sea-level rise, climate change in the oceans, climate variability, ENSO dynamics, ocean and climate modelling, dynamical downscaling.