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Dr Xuebin Zhang

Principal Research Scientist,Team Leader

https://people.csiro.au/Z/X/xuebin-zhang

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Biography

Dr. Xuebin Zhang is a Principal Research Scientist working at Australia CSIRO Environment Division, and is the Team Leader for the Sea level, Waves and Remote Sensing Team. 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, requiring understanding and action for adaptation and mitigation. His research is strategically targeted to address this critical need by providing better and more reliable sea-level rise information. He has led CSIRO’s efforts to develop regional sea-level projections on both global and regional scales, positioning CSIRO as the sole entity in Australia with the expertise to produce process-based sea-level projections. The future sea-level projection products he has developed have been utilized by over 20 countries, including Australia, Southeast Asian countries, and Pacific Island countries. Additionally, he played a pioneering role in producing the first-ever high-resolution sea-level projections worldwide, achieving a remarkable resolution of approximately 10 kilometers. This groundbreaking work involved dynamically downscaling global climate model simulations and producing high-resolution sea-level fingerprints resulting from land ice melting using an unstructured global mesh grid. This new direction for research and applications related to addressing the sea-level rise issue has inspired other international groups to follow.

He has published >60 articles in leading professional journals, including 10 in the Nature and Science publishing groups. His total citation is ~4,900 (h-index:34) by Google Scholar.

He has secured in eight 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, Centre for Southern Hemisphere Ocean Research (CSHOR) Sea Level Project, NESP Climate Systems Hub – Oceans and Coasts Project and CSIRO R+ CERC postdoctoral fellowship project.

The international recognition of Xuebn’s scientific contributions is evident through his service on esteemed international research advisory panels, such as the Pacific Panel of the Climate Variability, Predictability and Change (CLIVAR) Program. He was invited to deliver plenary talks by the WCRP/IOC Sea Level Conference in 2017 (New York) and 2022 (Singapore), also invited (with expenses covered) to participate in conferences and workshops of high international standing, such as WCRP sea level Grand Challenge workshop, hosted by the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Switzerland. Moreover, he has actively convened about 10 sea level related sessions at national and international conferences, such as the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) Annual Conferences and Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Societ (AMOS) Annual Conferences. Furthermore, he has been sought after for interviews by leading domestic and international news outlets such as the Washington Post, Agence France Presse, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and the Sydney Morning Herald.

He is also very active in academic supervision by supervising three postdoctoral fellows, seven Ph.D. students and four honours students during his CSIRO appointment. His proactive involvement in academic supervision led to his appointment as the UTAS/CSIRO Quantitative Marine Science (QMS) joint PhD program coordinator, where he represents CSIRO's interests and coordinates CSIRO staff contributions to the QMS program.

As a recognition of his excellent achievements, Xuebin was awarded the prestigious CSIRO Julius Career Award (2018- 2023), which is designed to advance the careers of exceptional early to mid-career researchers.

Current Roles

  • Project Leader
    R+ CERC postdoctoral fellowship project (PDF24-1-1800)

  • Project Leader
    NESP Climate Systems Hub - oceans and coasts project

  • Project Leader
    CSHOR project: the role of the Southern Ocean in sea level change

  • Project Leader
    CSIRO Ocean Downscaling strategic Project

  • Project leader
    NSW Environmental Trust: Regional 21st Century Sea level Projections for the NSW coast

  • Main investigator
    Australian Climate Change Science Program

  • Project Leader
    Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) Program - Sea level understanding and projections for the Pacific Islands region

  • Main investigator
    Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP)

Academic Qualifications

  • 2008

    PhD of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Professional Experiences

  • 07/2019-current

    Principal Research Scientist
    CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere

  • 07/2014-06/2019

    Senior Research Scientist
    CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere

  • 08/2010-06/2014

    Research Scientist
    CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research

  • 10/2008-08/2010

    Postdoctoral Scholar
    Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Achievements and Awards

  • 2024-2027

    R+ CERC postdoctoral fellowship (PDF24-1-1800)
    CSIRO

  • 2018-2021

    Julius Career Award
    CSIRO

  • 2017-2018

    Capability Development Fund to support my secondment at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US)
    CSIRO O&A

  • 2017-2017

    Corporate Citizen Award
    CSIRO

Other highlights

  • 1/2017-12/2021

    Member of CLIVAR Pacific Regional Panel

Grants

  • 06/2024-06/2027

    R+ CERC postdoctoral fellowship project (PDF24-1-1800) ($910K)

  • 07/2022-12/2024

    NESP Climate Systems Hub - oceans and coasts project ($2,750K)

  • 07/2017-06/2022

    CSHOR - The role of the Southern Ocean in sea level change ($2,750K)

  • 2018-2023

    CSIRO Julius Career Award ($75K)

  • 02/2015-01/2017

    NSW Environmental Trust - Regional 21st Century sea level projections for the NSW coast ($300K)

  • 07/2014-06/2016

    CSIRO Ocean Downscaling Strategic Project ($650K)

  • 07/2011-12/2013

    Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) Program - Sea level understanding and projections for the Pacific Islands region ($932K)

We have publications by Dr Xuebin Zhang