Employment
Research Assistant
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
September 2024 – February 2025
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Center for Climate Systems Research, Climate School, Columbia University, New York, USA
February 2025 – February 2026
Education
Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences (2024)
McGill University
Advisors: Dr. Yi Huang and Dr. John Gyakum
M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences (2018)
Tsinghua University
Advisor: Dr. Feng Tian
B.E. in Mechanical Engineering (2016)
Tsinghua University
B.E. in The Management of Business Administration (2016)
Tsinghua University (Second Major)
Research interests
Atmosphere radiative transfer, climate change detection and attribution, and remote sensing of the atmosphere.
Research experiences
September 2018 – August 2024 | McGill University, Ph.D. Project
Advisors: Dr. Yi Huang and Dr. John Gyakum
Detecting and Understanding Climate Change Using Hyperspectral Radiative Measurements
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“Radiative Keeling Curve” in Downwelling Longwave Radiance (DLR) at Southern Great Plains (SGP): homogenized a long-term DLR record at the SGP site using observations from the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI); detected and attributed long-term DLR trends at the SGP site; derived surface longwave forcing and feedback at the SGP site; developed an AERI forward model based on the Line-by-Line Radiative Transfer Model (LBLRTM)
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Temperature and Water Vapor Retrievals from Joint Hyperspectral Airborne Microwave and Ground-based Infrared Radiometer Measurements: developed an AERI retrieval model using the optimal estimation method; conducted radiative closure tests for both AERI and the High Spectral Resolution Airborne Microwave Sounder (HiSRAMS); compared the radiative accuracy between AERI and HiSRAMS; performed temperature and water vapor retrievals based on AERI and HiSRAMS, including a retrieval performance comparison and joint retrievals
March 2016 – July 2018 | Tsinghua University, M.S. Project
Advisor: Dr. Feng Tian
Efficient Metal Emissions in the Upper Atmospheres of Close-in Exoplanets
- Conducted a quantitative study on the cooling mechanisms of particle radiation (C, N, O, and their ions) in the upper atmospheres of exoplanets using a population balance method and a Monte Carlo model for planetary atmospheric escape.
June 2014 – September 2015 | Tsinghua University, Student Research Training Program
Advisor: Dr. Feng Tian
Theoretical and Observational Studies of Habitable Exoplanets
- Utilized the latest Kepler planet data to test the existing models of exoplanet evolution and to analyze the accuracy of mass-loss rate models.
July 2015 – August 2015 | University of Leicester, Summer Oversea Study Program
Advisor: Dr. Martin Barstow
Stellar UV/EUV Radiation and its Influence on the Evolution of Exoplanets
- Tested the impact of changes in exoplanets’ mass loss rate and stellar UV/EUV radiation over time on atmospheric escape models to establish a more accurate model of planetary evolution.
Teaching experiences
Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 | Teaching Assistant for Atmospheric Radiation (ATOC 525) | McGill University
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Marked homework assignments
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Laboratory supervision and practical instruction: the introduction of HITRAN dataset and radiative transfer models
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-reviewed Journal Papers
Liu, L., Huang Y., & Gyakum R.J. (2025). Clouds reduce downwelling longwave radiation over land in a warming climate. Nature, 637, 868-874. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08323-x
Liu, L., Bliankinshtein, N., Huang Y., Gyakum R.J., Gabriel, P., Xu, S., & Wolde, M. (2025). Comparative experimental validation of microwave hyperspectral atmospheric soundings in clear-sky conditions. Atmospheric Measurement Technique, 18, 471–485. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-471-2025
Liu, L., Bliankinshtein, N., Huang Y., Gyakum R.J., Gabriel, P., Xu, S., & Wolde, M. (2024). Radiative closure tests of collocated hyperspectral microwave and infrared radiometers. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 17, 2219–2233. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-215
Liu, L., Huang, Y., Gyakum, R.J., Turner, D.D., & Gero, P.J. (2022). Trends in downwelling longwave radiance over the Southern Great Plains. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 127, e2021JD035949. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035949
Liu L., & Tian F. (2018). Efficient metal emissions in the upper atmospheres of close-in exoplanets. Earth Planetary Physics, 2:22–39. https://doi.org/10.26464/epp2018003
Bin, J., Tian, F., & Liu, L. (2018). New inner boundaries of the habitable zones around M dwarfs. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 492, 121-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.04.003
Peer-reviewed Conference Papers
Bliankinshtein, N., Liu, L., Gabriel, P., Xu, S., Bala, K., Wolde, M., et al. (2023). Airborne validation of HiSRAMS atmospheric soundings. 2023 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Pasadena, USA. https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10281883
Bliankinshtein, N., Gabriel, P., Auriacombe, O., Huang, Y., Wolde, M., Xu, S., Liu, L., & Angevain, J.-C. (2023). Radiometric calibration of a hyperspectral microwave sounder. 2023 48th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz), Montreal, Canada. https://doi.org/10.1109/IRMMW-THz57677.2023.10299101
Xu, S., Bliankinshtein, N., Gabriel, P., Liu, L., Wolde, M., Huang, Y., et al. (2023). Low-level processing of passive hyperspectral microwave measurements from HiSRAMS. 2023 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Pasadena, USA. https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10283050
Conferences/Workshops attended/Talks given
Liu, L., Huang, Y., & Gyakum, R.J. (2024 December). Cloud Changes Mitigate the Increase in Downwelling Longwave Radiation over Land as Revealed by Long-Term Spectrally Resolved Radiance Observations, AGU Fall Meeting, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.. [Invited Oral]
Liu, L., Bliankinshtein, N., Huang, Y., Gyakum, R.J., Gabriel, P., Xu, S., & Wolde, M. (2024 April). Clear-sky temperature and water vapor retrievals utilizing collocated microwave and infrared hyperspectrometers, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria. [Oral]
Huang, Y., Liu, L., & Gyakum, R.J. (2024 April). Climate change signals of radiative forcing and feedback unveiled from long-term trends of spectrally resolved surface longwave radiation, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria. [Oral]
Liu, L., Huang, Y., & Gyakum, R.J. (2024, March). The climate trends in observed long-term downwelling longwave spectrally-resolved radiance at the Southern Great Plains and its comparison with global climate models. US CLIVAR Workshop on Confronting Earth System Model Trends with Observations: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Boulder, U.S.A.. [Poster]
Liu, L., Huang, Y., & Gyakum, R.J. (2023, December). Observational determination of surface cloud longwave feedback from long-term spectrally-resolved downwelling longwave radiance record. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, U.S.A.. [Poster]
Liu, L., Huang Y., Gyakum R.J., Bliankinshtein, N., Gabriel, P., Xu, S., & Wolde, M. (2023, May). Temperature and water vapor retrievals from joint airborne hyperspectral microwave radiometer and ground-based hyperspectral infrared radiometer measurements. The Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS) 57th Congress, St. John’s, Canada. [Oral]
Liu, L., Huang, Y., Gyakum, R.J., Turner, D.D., & Gero, P.J. (2023, April). Embedded climate change signals in long-term trends of spectrally resolved surface longwave radiation. Climate Dynamics Group Seminar, online talk.
Liu, L., Huang, Y., Gyakum, R.J., Turner, D.D., & Gero, P.J. (2022, August). Can climate change be detected by long-term downwelling longwave radiance observations at Southern Great Plains? Princeton Center for Theoretical Science: From Spectroscopy to Climate, Princeton, U.S.A.. [Oral]
Liu, L., Huang, Y., Gyakum, R.J., Turner, D.D., & Gero, P.J. (2022, August). The climate trends in surface longwave radiation diagnosed from long-term site measurements of AERI. AMS Collective Madison Meeting, Madison, U.S.A.. [Oral]
Liu, L., Huang, Y., Gyakum R.J. (2022, July). The role of sub-visual cirrus in achieving radiance closure in atmospheric emitted radiance measurements. 10th International Conference on Agro-Geoinformatics and the 43rd Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing, Quebec City, Canada. [Oral]
Liu, L., Huang, Y., Gyakum, R.J., Turner, D.D., & Gero, P.J. (2020, December). Trends in downwelling spectral infrared radiances at SGP. AGU Fall Meeting, online. [Poster]
Liu, L., Gyakum R.J., & Huang Y. (2019, July). Interannual variability in downwelling spectral infrared radiances, 27th IUGG General Assembly, Montreal, Canada. [Poster]
Liu, L. & Tian F. (2017, August). Emission rates of atoms and ions in the upper atmosphere, Chinese Astronomical Society Annual Meeting, Urumqi, China. [Oral]
Awards and fellowships
2021 – 2022 | Dr. and Mrs. Milton Leong Fellowship in Science at McGill University
2013 – 2014 | Tsinghua Academic Excellence Scholarship
2013 – 2014 | Tsinghua Friends-Urumqi Economic Development Zone Scholarship