The most relevant anthropogenic activities that can significantly modify the Earth’s climate system are greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and land-use/land-cover changes. A regional climate model (RCM), with its high-resolution capabilities over the targeted region, stands out as a crucial tool for isolating specific climate responses to anthropogenic forcings and deepening our understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms, despite the presence of inevitable uncertainties. As a showcase of RCM utilization, this presentation demonstrates how accelerating global warming, induced by continuous GHG emissions, along with urban growth, can intensify heat stress risks in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), where dangerous and intolerable level of heat stress have already been witnessed.

About the Speaker

Dr. Eun-Soon Im currently holds a joint position as an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Division of Environment and Sustainability at the Hong Kong University of Science Technology. She has dedicated her career to the development and improvement of the Regional Climate Model (RCM) and has conducted extensive research on regional climate changes across various regions worldwide. She has also plenty of credible experience in working with impact assessment teams, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations between climate science and impact sectors through the application of RCM simulations to various impact models (e.g. hydrology, agriculture, energy). The value and novelty of her work are well demonstrated by the relevant publications in leading journals within climate research fields.