Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research

Talent details

Name：Fahu Chen

Title & Affiliation：PhD, Professor, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Tel：

Email：fhchen@itpcas.ac.cn

Homepage in Chinese：http://sourcedb.itpcas.cas.cn/cn/expert/201707/t20170727_4837232.html

Address：Building 3, Courtyard 16, Lin Cui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101 China

Education and Appointments

Education

Ph.D. in Quaternary Sciences, Lanzhou University (Lanzhou), 1990

M.Sc. in Physical Geography, Lanzhou University (Lanzhou), 1987

B.Sc. in Physical Geography, Lanzhou University (Lanzhou), 1984

Appointments

Fahu Chen is CAS Academician elected in 2015, The Member of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS）elected in 2016, Chair Professor of Alpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation Group (ALPHA) in Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and distinguished professor of physical geography in Lanzhou University. He was presidents (2019-2024) and is fellow of China Geography Society, and Chair of China National Committee for the IGU, Chairman of IGU Commission on Silk-Road Civilization and Environment. He was professor for physical geography and Quaternary Science in Lanzhou University since 1994, director of key Laboratory of West China's Environmental System, Ministry of Education of China (2005-2016), vice presidents of Society on Tibetan Plateau Research (2019-2023), chairman of Rapid Climatic Changes in the Central-Asia's Dryland under INQUA (INQUA RACHAD Working Group, 1999-2007), and general director of Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (2018-2023).

He has published more than 770 papers in peer-reviewed journals of both English and Chinese with more than 520 papers published in English journals such as Nature, Science, NCC, NG, NS, NC, Sci. Bull., PNAS, ESR, QSR, which are cited more than 26,600 times by papers of SCI journals with H index of 81, and carried on numerous projects from China National Natural Science Foundation, Ministry of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, and Ministry of Education. Most of them are involved by international research groups. Currently, he leads a NSFC project focused on Tibetan Plateau Earth System study. He is Executive Editors-In-Chief of Science Bulletin, Editors-In-Chief of Scientia Geographica Sinica, associate editors of Fundamental Research, Frontier of Earth Science, and editors of Journal of Quaternary Science, Paleogeography-Palaeoclimatology-Paleoecology, Anthropocene, Geography and Sustainability, One Earth and some associate editors and editors of journals in Chinese.

Research Interest

His scientific work involves Quaternary environmental changes, climate changes, environmental archeology, loess-desert evolution and paleolimnology with special focus on paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstruction, past man-environment interactions in Arid Central Asia and the Tibetan Plateau (especial during Holocene). His main scientific contributions include three aspects: 1) Promoted research on East Asian summer monsoon and loess-dust in China during the late Quaternary, 2) Pioneering the study of the “westerlies-dominated climatic regime” of climate change in the arid central Asia drylands, 3) Proposed a new perspective on human occupation history and high-altitude adaptation on the Tibet Plateau.

Selected Publications

1. Xia, H., Zhang, D.J. *, Wang, J., Fagernäs, Z., Li, T., Li, Y.X., Yao, J.T., Lin, D.P., Troché, G., Smith, G. M., Chen, X.S., Cheng, T., Shen, X.K., Han, Y.Y., Olsen, J. V., Shen, Z.W., Pei, Z.Q., Hublin, J.-J., Chen, F.H.*, Welker, F. *, 2024. Middle and Late Pleistocene Denisovan subsistence at Baishiya Karst Cave. Nature, 632, 108–113.

2. Chen, F*., Man, W.M., Wang, S.J., Esper, J., Meko, D., Büntgen, U., Yuan, Y.J., Hadad, M., Hu, M., Zhao, X.E., Roig, F., Fang, O.Y., Chen, Y.P., Zhang, H.L., Shang, H.M., Yu, S.L., Luo, X., He, D.M.*, Chen, F.H.*, 2023. Southeast Asian ecological dependency on Tibetan Plateau streamflow over the last millennia. Nature Geoscience, 16, 1151–1158.

3. Chen, F.H., Duan, Y.W., Hao, S., Chen, J., Feng, X.P., Hou, J.Z., Cao, X.Y., Zhang, X., Zhou, T.J., 2023. Holocene thermal maximum mode versus the continuous warming mode: problems of data-model comparisons and future research prospects. Science China Earth Sciences, 66, 1683–1701.

4. Chen, F.H., Xie, T.T., Yang, Y.J., Chen, S.Q., Chen, F., Huang, W., Chen, J., 2023. Discussion of the “warming and wetting” trend and its future variation in the drylands of Northwest China under global warming. Science China Earth Sciences, 66, 1241–1257.

5. Huang, L.X., Chen, J.*, Yang, K., Yang, Y.J., Huang, W., Zhang, X., Chen, F.H.*, 2023. The northern boundary of the Asian summer monsoon and division of westerlies and monsoon regimes over the Tibetan Plateau in present-day. Science China Earth Sciences, 66,882-893.

6. Wang, X.M., Ge, Q.S., Geng, X., Wang, Z.S., Gao, L., Bryan, B.A., Chen, S.Q., Su, Y.N., Cai, D.W., Ye, J.S., Sun, J.M., Lu, H.Y., Che, H.Z., Cheng, H., Liu, H.Y., Liu, B.L., Dong, Z.B., Cao, S.X., Hua, T., Chen, S.Y., Sun, F.B., Luo, G.P., Wang, Z.T., Hu, S., Xu, D.Y., Chen, M.X., Li, D.F., Liu, F., Xu, X.L., Han, D.M., Zheng, Y., Xiao, F.Y., Li, X.B., Wang, P., Chen, F.H.*, 2023. Unintended consequences of combating desertification in China. Nature Communications 14, 1139.

7. Chen, F.H., Ding, L., Piao, S.L., Zhou, T.J., Xu, B.Q., Yao, T.D., Li, X., 2021. The Tibetan Plateau as the engine for Asian environmental change: the Tibetan Plateau Earth system research into a new era. Science Bulletin, 66: 1263-1266.

8. Chen, F.H., Chen, S.Q., Zhang, X., Chen, J.H., Wang, X., Gowan, E.J., Qiang, M.R., Dong, G.H., Wang, Z.L., Li, Y.C., Xu, Q.H., Xu, Y.Y., Smol, J.P., Liu, J.B., 2020. Asian dust-storm activities dominated by Chinese dynasty changes since 2000 BP. Nature Communications, 11, 992.

9. Chen, F.H., Zhang, J.F., Liu, J.B., Cao, X.Y., Hou, J.Z., Zhu, L.P., Xu, X.K., Liu, X.J., Wang, M.D., Wu, D., Huang, L.X., Zeng, T., Zhang, S., Huang, W., Zhang, X., Yang, K., 2020. Climate change, vegetation history, and landscape responses on the Tibetan Plateau during the Holocene: A comprehensive review. Quaternary Science Reviews, 243, 106444.

10.Zhang, D.J., Xia, H., Chen, F.H., Li, B., Slon, V., Cheng, T., Yang, R.W., Jacobs, Z., Dai, Q.Y., Massilani, D., Shen, X.K., Wang, J., Feng, X.T., Cao, P., Yang, M.A., Yao, J.T., Yang, J.S., Madsen, D.B., Han, Y.Y., Ping, W.J., Liu, F., Perreault, C., Chen, X.S., Meyer, M., Kelso, J., Pääbo, S., Fu, Q.M., 2020. Denisovan DNA in Late Pleistocene sediments from Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau. Science, 370(6516): 584–587.

11.Chen, F.H., Welker, F., Shen, C.-C., Bailey, S.E., Bergmann, I., Davis, S., Xia, H., Wang, H., Fischer, R., Freidline, S.E., Yu, T.-L., Skinner, M.M., Stelzer, S., Dong, G.R., Fu, Q.M., Dong, G.H., Wang, J., Zhang, D.J., Hublin, J.-J., 2019. A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau. Nature, 569: 409-412.

12.Chen, F.H., Chen, J.H., Huang, W., Chen, S.Q., Huang, X.Z., Jin, L.Y., Jia, J., Zhang, X.J., An, C.B., , Zhang, J.W., Zhao, Y., Yu, Z.C., Zhang, R.H., Liu, J.B., Zhou, A.F., Feng, S., 2019. Westerlies Asia and monsoonal Asia: Spatiotemporal differences in climate change and possible mechanisms on decadal to sub-orbital timescales. Earth-Science Reviews, 192: 337-354.

13.Liu, J.B, Rühland, K.M., Chen, J.H., Xu, Y.Y., Chen, S.Q., Chen, Q.M., Huang, W., Xu, Q.H., Chen, F.H*. Smol, J.P, 2017. Aerosol-weakened summer monsoons decrease lake fertilization in the Chinese Loess Plateau. Nature Climate Change, 7(3): 190–194.

14.Chen, F.H., Jia, J., Chen, J.H., Li, G.Q., Zhang, X.J., Xie, H.C., Xia, D.S., Huang, W., An, C.B., 2016. A persistent Holocene wetting trend in arid central Asia, with wettest conditions in the late Holocene, revealed by multi-proxy analyses of loess-paleosol sequences in Xinjiang, China. Quaternary Science Reviews, 146:134-146.

15.Chen, F.H., Dong, G.H., Zhang, D.J., Liu, X.Y., Jia, X., An, C.B., Ma, M.M., Xie, Y.W., Barton, L., Ren, X.Y., Zhao, Z.J., Wu, X.H., and M. K. Jones, 2015, Agriculture facilitated permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau after 3600 BP. Science, 347(6219): 248-250.

16.Chen, F.H., Xu, Q.H., Chen, J.H., Birks, H.J.B., Liu, J.B., Zhang, S.R., Jin, L.Y., An, C.B., Telford, R.J., Cao, X.Y., Wang, Z.L., Zhang, X.J., Selvaraj, K., Lu, H.Y., Li, Y.C., Zheng, Z., Wang, H.P., Zhou, A.F., Dong, G.H., Zhang, J.W., Huang, X.Z., Bloemendal, J., and Rao, Z.G., 2015, East Asian summer monsoon precipitation variability since the last deglaciation. Scientific Reports, 5, 11186.

17.Liu, J.B., Chen, J.H.*, Zhang, X.J., Li, Y., Rao, Z.G., Chen, F.H.*, 2015. Holocene East Asian summer monsoon records in northern China and their inconsistency with Chinese stalagmite δ18O records. Earth Science Reviews, 148:194-208.

18.Chen, J.H., Chen, F.H.*, Feng, S., Huang, W., Liu, J.B., Zhou, A.F., 2015. Hydroclimatic changes in China and surroundings during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age: Spatial patterns and possible mechanisms. Quaternary Science Reviews, 107: 98-111.

19.Chen, F.H., Li, G.Q., Zhao, H., Jin, M., Chen, X.M., Fan, Y.X., Liu, X.K., Wu, D. and Madsen, D., 2014, Landscape evolution of the Ulan Buh Desert in northern China during the late Quaternary. Quaternary Research, 81(3): 476–487.

20.Chen, F.H., Chen, X.M., Chen, J.H., Zhou, A.F., Wu, D., Tang, L.Y., Zhang, X.J., Huang, X.Z., and Yu, J.Q., 2014, Holocene vegetation history, precipitation changes and Indian summer monsoon evolution documented from sediments of Xingyun Lake, southwest China. Journal of Quaternary Research, 29(7): 661–674.

21.Chen, F.H., Qiang, M.R., Zhou, A.F., Xiao, S., Chen, J.H. and Sun, D.H., 2013, A 2000-yeardust storm record from Lake Sugan in the dust source area of arid China. Journal of Geophysical Research, 118(5): 2149-2160.

22.Chen, F.H., Chen, J.H., Holmes, J.A., Boomer, I., Austin, P., Gates, J.B., Wang, N.L., Brooks, S.J. and J.W. Zhang, 2010, Moisture changes over the last millennium in the Arid Central Asia: a review, synthesis and comparison with monsoon region. Quaternary Science Review, 29(7-8): 1055-1068.

23.Chen, F.H., Yu, Z.C., Yang, M.L., Ito, E., Wang, S.M., Madsen, D.B., Huang, X.Z., Zhao, Y., Sato, T., Birks, H.J.B., Boomer, I., Chen, J.H., An, C.B., Wünnemann, B., 2008, Holocene moisture evolution in arid central Asia and its out-of-phase relationship with Asian monsoon history. Quaternary Science Reviews, 27: 351–364.

24.Chen, F.H., Bloemendal, J., Feng, Z.D., Wang, J.M., Parker, E. and Z.T. Guo, 1999, East Asian monsoon variations during Oxygen Isotope Stage 5: evidence from the northwestern margin of the Chinese loess plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews, 18(8-9): 1127-1135.

25.Chen, F.H., Bloemendal, J., Wang, J.M., Li, J.J. and Oldfield, F., 1997. High-resolution multi-proxy climate records from Chinese loess: evidence for rapid climatic changes over the last 75 kyr. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 130(1-4): 323-335.

More papers can be found:

Peer-Reviewed papers: https://publons.com/researcher/2811421/chen-fahu/

Personal Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fahu-Chen