Welcome to the Tai Group for Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions (TGABI). Our research aims to address the pressing issues of air pollution, climate change, food insecurity and ecosystem degradation by better understanding the complex interactions between atmospheric chemistry, climate, land surface and the biosphere. Combining high-performance Earth system modeling with multivariate statistical analysis of global observations, we examine such issues as:

• How would boundary-layer meteorology and air quality be influenced by changes in climate, vegetaton, land use and agricultural practices?
• How would climate change and air pollution interfere with food production and forest productivity?
• Can we devise sustainable strategies for joint air quality, forest and agricultural management to mitigate the imminent planetary health crisis?

Please visit the Research page for more details.

Amos P. K. Tai [CV]
Associate Professor
Earth System Science Programme & Graduate Division of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Faculty of Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Education
• Ph.D., Environmental Science and Engineering, Harvard University
• B.Sc., Environmental Engineering Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research Interests
• Atmospheric chemistry and physics
• Air pollution, agricultural and forest meteorology
• Biosphere-atmosphere interactions and ecoclimatology
• Ecosystem services and food security under climate change

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Environment on "Impacts of climate and land cover variability and trends on springtime East Asian dust emission over 1982–2010: A modeling study". (Apr 2021)

• Latest study published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems on "Impacts of surface ozone pollution on global crop yields: Comparing different ozone exposure metrics and incorporating co-effects of CO2". (Mar 2021)

• Latest study published in Atmosphere on "Calibration of high-impact short-range quantitative precipitation forecast through frequency-matching techniques". (Feb 2021)

• TGABI welcomes new member - Kong Ting Chau! (Jan 2021)

• Latest study published in Geoscientific Model Development on "Calibrating soybean parameters in JULES 5.0 from the US-Ne2/3 FLUXNET sites and the SoyFACE-O3 experiment". (Dec 2020)

• Latest study published in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology on "Vegetation-heatwave correlations and contrasting energy exchange responses of different vegetation types to summer heatwaves in the Northern Hemisphere during the 1982–2011 period". (Oct 2020)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Impacts of future land use and land cover change on mid-21st-century surface ozone air quality: Distinguishing between the biogeophysical and biogeochemical effects". (Oct 2020)

• Amos was interviewed by Greenpeace Hong Kong and CUHK in two featured articles, and contributed to Carbon Brief on food and climate. [article 1] [article 2] [article 3] (Sep 2020)

• Amos appeared as a guest host twice on TV program Talk Show – Science Night 2020 of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) TV31. [video 1] [video 2] (Sep 2020)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Hemraj Bhattarai, Martin Lee and Avis Wong! (Aug 2020)

• Latest study published in Atmosphere on "Evidence of ozone-induced visible foliar injury in Hong Kong using Phaseolus vulgaris as a bioindicator". [press release] (Mar 2020)

• Six TGABI members attended the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2019 Fall Meeting, and gave four oral and three poster presentations. (Dec 2019)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Importance of dry deposition parameterization choice in global simulations of surface ozone". (Nov 2019)

• Amos appeared as a guest host on TV program Talk Show – Science Night 2019 of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) TV31. (Aug 2019)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Donald Tao, Oscar Ma and Leo Ng! (Aug 2019)

• Amos was honored to be elected as a Founding Member of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences, and serve as the Honorary Secretary. He also delivered a lightning talk during the Inauguration Ceremony. [news] (Jun 2019)

• Amos attended the 11th Asian Aerosol Conference and gave an oral presentation. (May 2019)

• Four TGABI members attended the 9th International GEOS-Chem Meeting, and gave two oral and two poster presentations. (May 2019)

• Latest study published in Environmental Research Letters on "Co-benefits of intercropping as a sustainable farming method for safeguarding both food security and air quality". [press release] (Mar 2019)

• Five TGABI members attended the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2018 Fall Meeting, and gave one oral and four poster presentations. (Dec 2018)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Coupling between surface ozone and leaf area index in a chemical transport model: strength of feedback and implications for ozone air quality and vegetation health". (Oct 2018)

• Two TGABI members attended the 14th International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Science Conference in Takamatsu, Japan, and gave one oral and one poster presentations. (Sep 2018)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Joey Lam, Perry Ma and Nathan Wong! (Aug 2018)

• Amos appeared as a guest on TV program Talk Show – Science Night 2018 of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) TV31. (Jul 2018)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Synoptic meteorological modes of variability for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality in major metropolitan regions of China". (May 2018)

• Together with several colleagues from CUHK, Amos attended the Workshop on Environment, Sustainability and Resilience at the University of Exeter, and gave an overview of TGABI research. (May 2018)

• Four TGABI members attended the Workshop on Air Pollution Impacts on Ecosystems and Crops (APICE) in Beijing, and gave one invited oral and three poster presentations. Amos also gave an invited talk at Peking University. (May 2018)

• Amos attended the 31st Task Force Meeting of ICP Vegetation, and gave an oral presentation. (Mar 2018)

• Latest study published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres on "Attribution and statistical parameterization of the sensitivity of surface ozone to changes in leaf area index based on a chemical transport model". (Feb 2018)

• Four TGABI members attended the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2017 Fall Meeting, and gave one invited oral, two oral and one poster presentations. (Dec 2017)

• Amos attended the 5th International Symposium on Regional Air Quality Management in Rapidly Developing Economic Regions, and gave an oral presentation. (Nov 2017)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Environment on "Impacts of ozone air pollution and temperature extremes on crop yields: Spatial variability, adaptation and implications for future food security". (Oct 2017)

• Six TGABI members attended the 5th iLEAPS Science Conference, and gave five oral and one poster presentations. Amos also co-chaired the session "Ozone-vegetation interactions and effects on ecosystems, agriculture and climate". (Sep 2017)

• TGABI welcomes new members - David Yung and Jiachen Zhu! (Aug 2017)

• Alan attended the AOGS 14th Annual Meeting, and gave a poster presentation. (Aug 2017)

• Amos hosted the CUHK-WUN Workshop on "Ecosystem-Atmosphere Interactions in Air Quality and Climate Assessment: Modeling and Measurement Strategies". Honorable speakers included Maria Val Martin, Olivier Crespo, Alex Guenther, Laurens Ganzeveld, and Xuemei Wang. Check out their presentations and model exercises (see links)! [Val Martin 1] [Val Martin 2] [Crespo] [Guenther] [Ganzeveld 1] [Ganzeveld 2] [Wang] (Jun 2017)

• Amos attended the Urban Meteorology and Climate Conference, and gave an oral presentation. (May 2017)

• Amos attended the 8th International GEOS-Chem Meeting, gave an oral and a poster presentation, and chaired the briefing session on "GEOS-Chem Working Groups". (May 2017)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Effects of ozone-vegetation coupling on surface ozone air quality via biogeochemical and meteorological feedbacks". (Feb 2017)

• Four TGABI members attended the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2016 Fall Meeting, and gave one oral and three poster presentations. Amos also co-chaired the session "Impacts of Land Cover, Land Use and Agricultural Changes on Atmospheric Composition and Climate". (Dec 2016)

• Amos co-chaired the session "Atmospheric Chemistry, Ecosystems and Agriculture" in the IGAC Project 2016 Science Conference, and gave a poster presentation. (Sep 2016)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Impacts of historical climate and land cover changes on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality in East Asia between 1980 and 2010". (Aug 2016)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Danny Leung, Alan Lim, Shirley Liu, Jacky Pang and Susie Sun! (Aug 2016)

• Amos visited University of Sheffield for the WUN project "Impacts of Future Climate and Land Use Changes on Public Health and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia". (Jul 2016)

• Three TGABI members attended the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2015 Fall Meeting, and gave one oral and three poster presentations. (Dec 2015)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Impact of climate and land cover changes on tropospheric ozone air quality and public health in East Asia between 1980 and 2010". [press release] (Sep 2015)

• Amos was awarded the 2015 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Research Award for Young Scientists. [press release] (Sep 2015)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Victor Fung, Anthony Wong and Alice Zhou! (Aug 2015)

• Latest study published in Nature Climate Change on "Threat to future global food security from climate change and ozone air pollution". [press release] (Aug 2014)

• TGABI welcomes its first crop of graduate students, Mehliyar Sadiq and Ray Chow! (Aug 2014)

"The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again." (Ecclesiastes 1:6-7)