Welcome to the Tai Group for Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions (TGABI). Our research aims to address the pressing issues of air pollution, climate change, food system and forest ecosystem sustainability 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 land use and forest changes and management affect air quality and climate?
• How would climate change and air pollution interfere with agricultural and forest productivity?
• How can we mitigate climate change and environmental pollution via food system transformation and sustainable forestry?

Please visit the Research page for more details.

Amos P. K. Tai [CV]
Associate Professor and Deputy Chair (Education), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Associate Director, Office of University General Education
Associate Director, Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability
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
• Ecological climatology and biosphere-atmosphere interactions
• Air pollution, climate change, and sustainable agriculture and forestry

Media appearances of Prof. Amos Tai are listed here.

• Prof. Amos Tai was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong! [CUHK in Focus] (Oct 2024)

• Latest study published in Science of The Total Environment on "Responses of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) air quality to future climate, land use, and emission changes: Insights from modeling across Shared Socioeconomic Pathways". (Oct 2024)

• Latest collaborative study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on "Estimating future climate change impacts on human mortality and crop yields via air pollution". (Sep 2024)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Yueyao Chen and Yang Zhao! (Aug 2024)

• Latest study published in Geoscientific Model Development on "Terrestrial Ecosystem Model in R (TEMIR) version 1.0: simulating ecophysiological responses of vegetation to atmospheric chemical and meteorological changes". (May 2024)

• Latest collaborative study published in Nature Communications on "Patterns of tropical forest understory temperatures". [press release] [CUHK in Touch] (Jan 2024)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Multidecadal ozone trends in China and implications for human health and crop yields: a hybrid approach combining a chemical transport model and machine learning". (Jan 2024)

• Latest study published in Science of The Total Environment on "Impacts of changes in climate, land use, and emissions on global ozone air quality by mid-21st century following selected Shared Socioeconomic Pathways". (Jan 2024)

• Latest study published in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology on "Effects of different irrigation methods on regional climate in North China Plain: A modeling study". (Nov 2023)

• TGABI welcomes new member - Dr. Lina Luo! (Sep 2023)

• Amos was interviewed by RTHK Radio 1 program "World in a Nutshell" to explain the causes of the recent Hawaiian wildfires and, more generally, the relationships between wildfires, climate change and forest management. [audio] (Aug 2023)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Kylie Cheng, Hanrui Duan, Hayden Lam and Hongru Wang! (Aug 2023)

• Latest study published in Geoscientific Model Development on "Development of an ecophysiology module in the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model version 12.2.0 to represent biosphere–atmosphere fluxes relevant for ozone air quality". (May 2023)

• Latest editorial published in Frontiers in Climate on "Editorial: Agriculture and food supply challenges in a changing climate". (Jan 2023)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Dr. Ali Ishmaeel and Joshua Lo! (Dec 2022)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Biao Luo and Jingwei Zhang! (Aug 2022)

• Latest study published in Environmental Research Letters on "CO₂ fertilization of crops offsets yield losses due to future surface ozone damage and climate change". [press release] (Jun 2022)

• Latest study published in Biogeosciences on "Influence of plant ecophysiology on ozone dry deposition: Comparing between multiplicative and photosynthesis-based dry deposition schemes and their responses to rising CO₂ level". (Mar 2022)

• Latest study published in Biogeosciences on "Modeling the interinfluence of fertilizer-induced NH₃ emission, nitrogen deposition, and aerosol radiative effects using modified CESM2". (Mar 2022)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Effects of ozone-vegetation interactions on meteorology and air quality in China using a two-way coupled land-atmosphere model". (Jan 2022)

• Latest study published in Nature Food on "Dietary shifts can reduce premature deaths related to particulate matter pollution in China". [press release] [selected news 1] [selected news 2] (Dec 2021)

• Amos delivered a talk titled "What should we have for dinner? Reading The Omnivore's Dilemma to reconnect humans with food and nature" for the CUHK Book Club. [video] (Dec 2021)

• Latest study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics on "Responses of surface ozone to future agricultural ammonia emissions and subsequent nitrogen deposition through terrestrial ecosystem changes". (Dec 2021)

• TGABI welcomes new member - Chloe Yuen! (Oct 2021)

• On behalf of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences, Amos delivered a public talk titled "Saving the planet with science and technology" during the InnoCarnival 2021. [video] (Oct 2021)

• TGABI welcomes new members - Jia Mao and Tiangang Yuan! (Aug 2021)

• Amos delivered a public talk titled "Co-benefits of sustainable food production, consumption and trade to mitigate air pollution, climate change and food insecurity" for the CUHK Agrobiotechnology Talk Series. [video] (Jul 2021)

• 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 Forests on "Problems and management of Acacia-dominated urban forests on man-made slopes in a subtropical, high-density city". (Mar 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)

• 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". (Jan 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 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)

• 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)

• Amos delivered a public talk titled "Plants breathe: How does it affect weather and air pollution" for the CUHK Faculty of Science Zoom Lectures Series. [video] (Mar 2020)

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

• 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)

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

• 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)

• 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)

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

• 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)

• 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)