Yijie Zhu
yijiezhu@fau.edu
CV_YJ_ZHU_625_2024.docxCurrent Position
Assistant Professor
Department of Geosciences
Florida Atlantic University
I am an FAU Geosciences assistant professor focusing on inland hurricane intensity decay. Over the past few years, I have been studying the spatial and temporal patterns of this intensity decay process and using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to investigate the physical factors, including the impact of changing climate, that contribute to the weakening of hurricanes as they move inland.
My goal is to deepen our understanding of the relationships between changing climate and the post-landfall weakening of hurricanes, especially for inland communities, and to provide valuable insights that can help improve our ability to mitigate the impacts of these inland moving storms.
I used to work at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University as a post-doctoral researcher, where I was involved in an operational project using the cyclone phase space to better determine extratropical transition while also investigating the impact of pre-storm ocean conditions on the change of tropical cyclone (TC) intensity by using TC tracks from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) model data.
Education
Ph.D. (2022) Geography and Environmental Science and Policy, University of South Florida
M.EnvSci. (2017) Climate Change Impact Assessment, University of Toronto
B.Sc. (2016) Earth Science/Business, University of Waterloo & China University of Geosciences (2+2)
Featured Projects
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 103 (10), E2354-E2369
Geophysical Research Letters 48 (17), e2021GL094680
Geophysical Research Letters 48 (6), e2020GL092072
Transportation research part D: transport and environment 83, 102334
Investigating Key Environmental Factors that Control the Slow Movement of Hurricane Harvey (2017) using the WRF Model
Ongoing Project
Accumulated Cyclone Energy-Based Tropical Cyclone Return Periods in Florida
Annals of the American Association of Geographers (Accepted)
Publication List
Zhu, Y. -J., Collins J. M., Klotzbach, P. J., & Schreck, C. J. (2022). Hurricane Ida (2021): Rapid intensification followed by slow inland decay. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 103(10), E2354–E2369.
Collins, J., Polen, A., Dunn, E., Jernigan, I., McSweeney, K., Welford, M.,…& Zhu, Y.-J. (2022). Hurricanes Laura and Sally: A case study of evacuation decision-making in the age of COVID-19, Weather, Climate, and Society, 14(4), 1231–1245.
Zhu, Y. -J., Collins J. M., & Klotzbach, P. J. (2021). Nearshore hurricane intensity change and post-landfall dissipation along the United States Gulf and East Coasts. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(17), e2021GL094680.
Zhu, Y. -J., Collins, J. M., & Klotzbach, P. J. (2021). Spatial variations of North Atlantic landfalling tropical cyclone wind speed decay over the continental United States. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 60(6), 749–762.
Zhu, Y. -J., & Collins, J. M. (2021). Recent rebounding of the post-landfall hurricane wind decay period over the continental United States. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(6), e2020GL092072.
Zhu, Y. -J., & Collins J. M. (2021). The response of hurricane inland penetration to the nearshore translation speed. In Hurricane Risk in a Changing Climate. In Vol. 2. J.M. Collins. and J. Done, Eds., Springer
Zhu, Y. -J., Hu, Y., & Collins, J. M. (2020). Estimating road network accessibility during a hurricane evacuation: A case study of hurricane Irma in Florida. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 102334.
Zhu, Y. -J., & Evans, S. G. (2019). Mapping tropical cyclone energy as an approach to hazard assessment. In Hurricane Risk (pp. 71–87). In Vol. 1. J.M. Collins. and K. Walsh, Eds., Springer