Xu Zhang, Author at British Antarctic Survey

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Xu Zhang

Earth System Ice Sheet Modeller

Dr Xu Zhang is a Senior Scientist (Band F) in the Ice Dynamics and Paleoclimate team at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), where he specialises in Antarctic ice sheet–climate interactions using the UK Earth System Model (UKESM). His research focuses on understanding the role of the Antarctic ice sheet in past and future climate change, and improving projections of long-term sea level rise through advances in Earth system modelling.

Xu leads BAS’s contribution to the development and evaluation of the Antarctic ice sheet component within UKESM. His work includes developing and running large-scale coupled climate–ice sheet simulations on national high-performance computing systems such as ARCHER2, and using palaeoclimate evidence—including ice core and marine sediment records—to evaluate and constrain model performance. His research advances understanding of how Antarctic ice sheet dynamics interact with the ocean, atmosphere, and carbon cycle across millennial to orbital timescales.

Xu leads internationally recognised research on long-term Antarctic climate and ice sheet dynamics and their global impacts. His work combines various numerical models (e.g. UKESM, ECHAM5j/MPIOM, MITgcm-REcoM2, PISM, etc.), palaeoclimate proxy data (e.g. SST, d18O, etc) , and advanced statistical approaches such as data assimilation and optimisation, to improve understanding of abrupt climate change and Earth system feedbacks. His research interests include ice sheet – climate – carbon feedbacks, Quaternary climate variability including Dansgaard–Oeschger events and glacial cycles, ocean circulation and hydroclimate, and the role of water isotopes and carbon cycle processes in the climate system.

Prior to joining BAS as a Senior Scientist in 2024, Xu held senior academic and leadership positions internationally, including Full Professor at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Deputy Director of its State Key Laboratory. He previously held research positions at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany. He received his PhD in Physics (summa cum laude) from the University of Bremen, and his MSc and BSc in Atmospheric Sciences from the Ocean University of China.

Research interests

I openly welcome inquiries from prospective students and collaborations interested in relevant topics.

Antarctic forcing and feedback to climate changes
Quaternary millennial-to-orbital time scale climate variability (i.e. Dansgaard-Oeschger events, glacial cycles)
Global core climate tipping elements and cascade effects (e.g. Atlantic ocean circulation)
Hydroclimate and water isotopes
Paleoclimate Date Assimilation
Carbon cycle

PhD opportunities:

University of Cambridge CREATES DLA (link)

University of Southampton IGNITE DLA (link)

Services:

2025 – Associate Editor of npj Climate and Atmospheric Sciences

2025 – Steering Committee: PAGES Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT)

2024 – Steering Committee: PAGES Climate Variability Across Scales (CVAS)

2023 – Steering Committee: CMIP-PMIP Interglacials Work Group

2023 – Associate Editor of Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology

2021 – 2025 Editorial board member of Science China – Earth Sciences

2019 – 2025 Editorial board member of Science Bulletin

2018 – 2019 Editor of Past Global Changes (PAGES) Magazine “Ocean Circulation and Carbon Cycling“

Collaborations

2026 – Guest Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University, CN

2024 – Guest Scientist at Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, CN

2018 – Guest Scientist at Alfred Wegener Institute, DE

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

2025

Lin, Xiaopei. Zhang, Xu . Wu, Bo. Liu, Yonggang. Zhang, Cunjie. (2025) Toward an integrated framework on AMOC stability: Combining theory, observations, paleoclimate records, model simulations and AI.

Dong, Xiyu. Chen, Rishui. Niu, Xiaowen. Hummel, Clara. Kathayat, Gayatri. Liu, Yitao. Jingyao, Zhao. Zhang, Haiwei. Shi, Zhengguo. Zhang, Xu . Yang, Yan. Cheng, Hai. (2025) Early warning signals for Asian summer monsoon tipping and implications for future monsoon changes.

Wang, Kexin . Zhao, Jingyao . Cai, Yanjun . Zhang, Haiwei . Li, Hanying . Zhang, Xu . Zhang, Xiaojian . Wang, Jian. Gorbarenko, Sergey A. . Bersenev, Yuriy I. Vasilenko, Yuriy P. . Cheng, Hai . (2025) Contrasting Responses of Monsoon Rainfall and Speleothem Oxygen Isotope Between Northeast Asia and North China During the Early‐Mid Holocene.

Huang, Huang. Fietzke, Jan. Gutjahr, Marcus. Frank, Martin. Kuhn, Gerhard. Zhang, Xu . Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter . Li, Dengfeng. Hu, Jingyan. Yu, Jimin. (2025) Enhanced deep Southern Ocean stratification during the lukewarm interglacials.

Slattery, John . Sime, Louise C. . Rehfeld, Kira. Weitzel, Nils. Malmierca-Vallet, Irene . Zhang, Xu . Valdes, Paul J. Muschitiello, Francesco. (2025) A Global Speleothem-Based Assessment of Spontaneous Dansgaard–Oeschger Type Oscillations in Two Isotope-Enabled General Circulation Models.

Lawman, A.E. . Sun, C. . Wu, X. . Sun, T. Piatrunia, N. Gomez, K. . Kageyama, M. . Merkel, U. . Prange, M. . Otto-Bliesner, B. . Zhang, X. . DiNezio, P. . Shanahan, T. . (2025) Mechanisms driving the global tropical response to a weakened AMOC during Heinrich Stadial 1.

Dong, Xiyu . Zhang, Xu . Zhang, Haiwei . Zhang, Yuao. Rasmussen, Sune O. . Zhang, Rui . Cai, Yanjun . Huang, Shouyi. Kathayat, Gayatri. Pérez-Mejías, Carlos . Zong, Baoyun. Liu, Dianbing. Duan, Pengzhen. Svensson, Anders . Spötl, Christoph . Li, Youwei. Niu, Xiaowen . Wang, Jian . Li, Hanying. Ning, Youfeng. Xu, Yao. Wang, Xianfeng . Stríkis, Nicolás M. . Cruz, Francisco W. . Sinha, Ashish . Werner, Martin . Lawrence Edwards, R. Cheng, Hai . (2025) Interstadial diversity of East Asian summer monsoon linked to changes of the Northern Westerlies.

Dutta, Deepashree . Hopcroft, Peter O. . Andreasen, Laurits S. . Aubry, Thomas J. . Timmreck, Claudia . Zanchettin, Davide . Zhang, Xu . Muschitiello, Francesco. (2025) State‐Dependent North Atlantic Response to Volcanic Eruption Clusters.

DiNezio, Pedro N. . Shanahan, Timothy M. . Sun, Tianyi. Sun, Chijun . Wu, Xian . Lawman, Allison . Lea, David. Kageyama, Masa. Merkel, Ute . Prange, Matthias . Otto-Bliesner, Bette . Zhang, Xu . (2025) Tropical response to ocean circulation slowdown raises future drought risk.

Zhong, Yi . Liu, Yanguang . Yu, Jimin . Sun, Chijun . Wen, Qin. Kender, Sev . Horikawa, Keiji . Zhang, Xu . Weber, Michael E. . Li, Siqi. Yang, Hu . Kaboth‐Bahr, Stefanie. Bahr, André . Song, Zhaoyang. Swann, George E. A. . Cao, Wei. Yang, Sheng. Liu, Yuxing. Zhang, Jingyu . Li, Hai . Xia, Wenyue . Liu, Qingsong . (2025) Bipolar Seesaw of Atmospheric CO2 Between North Pacific and Southern Ocean at Millennial Timescales.

Hao, Shuo. Zhang, Xu . Duan, Yanwu. Gowan, Evan J. Zhu, Jiang. Cauquoin, Alexandre. Chen, Jie. Werner, Martin. Chen, Fahu. (2025) Model seasonal and proxy spatial biases revealed by assimilated mid-Holocene seasonal temperatures.

Gowan, Evan James . Tomita, Tomohiko. Nishioka, Daiki. Zhang, Xu . Sun, Yong. Shi, Xiaoxu. Knorr, Gregor. Krebs-Kanzow, Uta. Gierz, Paul. Lohmann, Gerrit. Obase, Takashi. Kuniyoshi, Yuta. Abe-Ouchi, Ayako. (2025) Impact of topographic change on the East Asian monsoon in Japan and Eastern Asia during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Yan, Xinwei . Zhang, Xu . Liu, Bo. Mithan, Huw T. . Hellstrom, John . Nuber, Sophie . Drysdale, Russell . Wu, Junjie . Lin, Fangyuan . Zhao, Ning . Zhang, Yuao. Kang, Wengang. Liu, Jianbao . (2025) Asynchronicity of deglacial permafrost thawing controlled by millennial-scale climate variability.

2024

Xiong, Zhifang. Zhang, Xu . Qi, Di. Zhao, Jun. Algeo, Thomas J. (2024) Editorial: Role of the Southern Ocean in atmospheric pCO2 change: observations, simulations and paleorecords.

An, Zhisheng. Zhou, Weijian. Zhang, Zeke. Zhang, Xu . Liu, Zhonghui. Sun, Youbin. Clemens, Steven C. Wu, Lixin. Zhao, Jiaju. Shi, Zhengguo. Ma, Xiaolin. Yan, Hong. Li, Gaojun. Cai, Yanjun. Yu, Jimin. Sun, Yuchen. Li, Siqi. Zhang, Yu’ao. Stepanek, Christian. Lohmann, Gerrit. Dong, Guocheng. Cheng, Hai. Liu, Yu. Jin, Zhangdong. Li, Tao. Hao, Yifei. Lei, Jing. Cai, Wenju. (2024) Mid-Pleistocene climate transition triggered by Antarctic Ice Sheet growth.

Li, Siqi. Zhang, Xu . Lu, Zhengyao. Ni, Jian. Lu, Jianhua. (2024) Progress of vegetation modelling and future research prospects.

Gao, Qinggang . Capron, Emilie. Sime, Louise C. . Rhodes, Rachael H. Sivankutty, Rahul. Zhang, Xu . Otto-Bliesner, Bette L. Werner, Martin. (2024) Assessment of the southern polar and subpolar warming in the PMIP4 last interglacial simulations using paleoclimate data syntheses.

Under Review/in Revision:

Dong, X.Y., X Zhang*, Y. Sun, G. Kathayat, Y. Li, S. O. Rasmussen, A. Svensson, C. Buizert, A. Sinha, S. Barker, C. Pérez-Mejías, G. Knorr, R. Chen, K. Zhao, W. Du, H. Zhang, H. Li, A. Columbu, L. Tan, Y. Zhang, Y. Ning, M. Werner, Y. Wang, R. L. Edwards and H. Cheng: Glacial abrupt transitions in ocean circulation much slower than previously thought, in revision

Buizert C., A. Abe-Ouchi, G. Vettoretti, X Zhang, Y. Kuniyoshi, S. Shackleton, S. O. Rasmussen, J. B. Pedro, E. D. Galbraith and T. F. Stocker: An ocean heat valve: AMOC and Planetary energy budget during abrupt glacial climate change, in revision

Nuber S., T. Chalk, M. Scherrenberg, T. Heaton, X Zhang, X. Ji, L. Stap, M. Trydgill, H Block, Z. Jian, C. Xu, K. Kubota, M. Andersen, S. Barker, J. Yu, G. Foster and J. Rae: Mid Pleistocene Transition caused by decline in atmospheric CO₂, in revision

Wu D., S.Q. Li, J. Eiriksson, E. R. Gudmundsdottir, Y. Rosenthal, N.J. Hu, D.J. Fan, Y.G. Liu and X. Zhang*: Insolation-triggered Eurasian Ice Sheets collapse initiates the Last Termination, in revision

Selected Publications

Abrupt climate change/millennial-scale climate variability:

Dong, X.Y., X. Zhang*, H. Zhang, Y. Zhang, S. O. Rasmussen, R. Zhang, Y. Cai, S. Huang, G. Kathayat, C. Pérez-Mejías, B. Zong, D. Liu, P. Duan, A. Svensson, C. Spötl, Y. Li, X. Niu, J. Wang, H. Li, Y. Ning, Y. Xu, X. Wang, N. M. Stríkis, F. W. Cruz, A. Sinha, M. Werner, R. L. Edwards and H. Cheng*: Interstadial diversity of East Asian summer monsoon linked to changes of the Northern Westerlies. Nature Comm. 16, 7765, doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63057-2 (2025)

Yan X.W. X. Zhang*, B. Liu, H.T. Mithan, J. Hellstrom, S. Nuber, R. Drysdale, J. Wu, F. Lin, N. Zhao, Y. Zhang, W. Kang and J. Liu: Asynchronicity of deglacial permafrost thawing controlled by millennial-scale climate variability. Nature Comm.16, doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55184-z (2025)

Zhang X.*, S. Barker, G. Knorr, G. Lohmann, R. Drysdale, Y. B. Sun, D. Hodell and F. H. Chen: Direct astronomical influence on abrupt climate variability, Nature Geosci., 14, 819-826, doi: 1038/s41561-021-00846-6 (2021)

Knorr G.*, S. Barker, X. Zhang, G. Lohmann, X. Gong, P. Gierz, C. Stepanek and L. Stap: A salty deep ocean as a prerequisite for glacial termination, Nature Geosci., 14, 930-936, doi:10.1038/s41561-021-00857-3 (2021)

Maier E.*, X. Zhang*, A. Abelmann, R. Gersonde, S. Mulitza, M. Werner, M. Méheust, B. Chapligin, J. Ren, H. Meyer, R. Stein, R. Tiedemann, and G. Lohmann: North Pacific freshwater events linked to glacial ocean circulation changes, Nature, 559, 241-245, doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0276-y (2018)

Zhang X.*, Knorr, G. Lohmann, and S. Barker: Abrupt North Atlantic circulation changes in response to gradual CO₂ forcing in a glacial climate state, Nature Geosci., 10, 518-523, doi:10.1038/ngeo2974 (2017)

Zhang X.*, Lohmann, G. Knorr and C. Purcell: Abrupt glacial climate shifts controlled by ice sheet changes, Nature, 512, 290-294, doi: 10.1038/nature13592 (2014)

Glacial cycle and Deglacial climates:

An Z.*, W. Zhou, Z. Zhang, X. Zhang*, Z. Liu*, Y. Sun, S. C. Clemens, L. Wu, J. Zhao, Z. Shi, X. Ma, H. Yan, G. Li, Y. Cai, J. Yu, Y. Sun, S. Li, Y. Zhang, C. Stepanek, G. Lohmann, G. Dong, H. Cheng, Y. Liu, Z. Jin, T. Li, Y. Hao, J. Lei and W. Cai: Mid-Pleistocene climate transition triggered by Antarctic ice sheet growth, Science, 385, 560-565, doi: 10.1126/science.abn4861 (2024)

Nuber S.*, J. W. B. Rae, X. Zhang, M. B. Andersen, M. D. Dumont, Y.C. Sun, H.T. Mithan, B. de Boer, I. Hall and S. Barker: Indian Ocean Salinity build-up primes Deglacial Ocean Circulation Recovery, Nature, 617, 306-311, doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05866-3 (2023)

Starr A.*, I. R. Hall, S. Barker, T. Rackow, X. Zhang, S. R. Hemming, H.J.L. van der Lubbe, G. Knorr, M. A. Berke, G. R. Bigg, A. Cartagena, F. J. Jimenez- Espejo, X. Gong, J. Gruetzner, N. Lathika, L. J. LeVay, R. S. Robinson, M. Ziegler and Exp. 361 Science Party: Melting Antarctic Icebergs Reorganize Ocean Circulation During Pleistocene Glacials, Nature, 589, 236-241, doi:10.1038/s41586-020-03094-7 (2021)

Du. J.L., Y. Ye, X. Zhang*, C. Voelker and J. Tian*: Southern Control of Interhemispheric Synergy on Glacial Marine Carbon Sequestration, Geophys. Res. Lett., 49, e2022GL099048 (2022)

Barker S., X. Zhang, L. Jonkers, S. Lordsmith, S. Conn and G. Knorr: Strengthening Atlantic Inflow across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 36, e2020PA004200, doi: 10.1029/2020PA004200 (2021)

Dong L., X. Zhang, G. D. Jia, Y. Du, L. Li and Q. Y. Li: CO₂-induced decoupling of Tropical Surface and Thermocline Water Temperature at the onset of interglacials, Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2020GL088805 (2020)

Zhang X.*, Lohmann, G. Knorr and X. Xu: Different ocean states and transient characteristics in Last Glacial Maximum simulations and implications for deglaciation. Clim. Past, 9, 2319-2333, doi:10.5194/cp-9-2319-2013 (2013)

Interglacial climate:

Zhang X.* and H. Chen: Non-trivial role of internal climate feedbacks on interglacial temperature evolution. Nature600, E1–E3, doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03930-4 (2021)

Liu Z.*, J. Zhu, Y. Rosenthal, Zhang, B.-L. Otto-Bliesner, A. Timmermann, R. S. Smith, G. Lohmann, W. P. Zheng and O. Timm: The Holocene temperature conundrum. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 111, E350-E3505, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1407229111 (2014)

Tropical hydroclimate:

Zhang H.W.*, X. Zhang*, Y. Cai, A. Sinha, C. Spötl, J. Baker, G. Kathayat, Z. Liu, Y. Tian, J, Lu, Z. Wang, J. Zhao; X. Jia; W. Du; Y. Ning; Z. An; L. R. Edwards and H. Cheng, 2021: A data-model comparison pinpoints Holocene spatiotemporal pattern of East Asian summer monsoon, Quat. Sci. Rev., 261, 106911, doi:1 0.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106911

Zhang, Y.*, X. Zhang, C. Chiessi, S. Mulitza, X. Zhang, G. Lohmann, M. Prange, H. Behling, M. Zabel, A. Govin, A. Sawakuchi, F. Cruz and G. Wefer, 2016: Equatorial Pacific forcing of western Amazonian precipitation during Heinrich Stadial 1, Scientific Reports, doi:10.1038/srep35866

other selected papers:

Lien Ø. F., B. O. Hjelstuen, X. Zhang and H. P. Sejrup, 2022: Late Plio-Pleistocene evolution of the Eurasian Ice Sheets inferred from sediment input along the northeastern Atlantic continental margin, Quat. Sci. Rev., 292, 107433, doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107433

Hinck S.*, E. Gowan, X. Zhang and G. Lohmann, 2022: PISM-LakeCC: Implementing an adaptive proglacial lake boundary in an ice sheet model, The Cryosphere, 16, 941–965, doi:10.5194/tc-16-941-2022

Gowan E.*, X. Zhang, S. Khosravi, A. Rovere, P. Stocchi, A. L. C. Hughes, R. Gyllencreutz, J. Mangerud, J. I. Svendsen and G. Lohmann, 2021: A new global ice sheet reconstruction for the past 80000 years, Nature Comm., 1-9, doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21469-w

Werner, M., B. Haese, X. Zhang, M. Butzin and G. Lohmann, 2015: Glacial–interglacial changes of H₂¹⁸O, HDO and deuterium excess – results from the fully coupled Earth System Model ECHAM5/MPI-OM, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 647-670, doi: 10.5194/gmd-9-647-2016

See full publications in Google Scholar & Research Gate

Team

Ice Dynamics and Palaeoclimate team

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