AOGS Wing Ip Medal Award

2024 AOGS Wing Ip Medallist
Chih-Pei CHANG

National Taiwan University

For the past fifty years, Chih-Pei Chang has conducted ground-breaking research on numerous topics in tropical meteorology and climate, coupled with exceptional and tireless leadership in international cooperation. His efforts have significantly contributed to advancing scientific research and graduate education, as well as improving weather and climate forecasts in Asia.

In 1970, while a graduate student, he pioneered the use of satellite imagery to study propagating tropical waves. His method has since been adopted by numerous researchers. In 1978, he proposed the first theory for MJO, explaining its slow propagation dynamics through the differences in the balance of forces between forced and free equatorial waves. His work in the 1980s and 1990s on Asian winter surges revealed the gravity wave characteristics of these large-scale motions, and developed a conceptual model of the interaction between midlatitude baroclinic systems and tropical convection.

In the year 2000, his highly cited paper on ENSO was among the first to highlight the role of the Pacific subtropical high on rainfall in China and its influences on the seasonal variations of the Meiyu front. In the last 15 years, his research on the Maritime Continent monsoon has illuminated the critical roles of terrain in the monsoon's progression, leading to various significant and impactful implications on seasonal forecasting and equatorial cyclogenesis.

He spearheaded an international initiative that resulted in the creation, in 1997, of the first major platform for exchanges among monsoon scientists between World Weather and World Climate Research Programmes (WWRP and WCRP): the WMO International Workshops on Monsoons (IWM). Since 2004, the peer-reviewed book series published after each workshop, titled "The Global Monsoon System," has become a key resource in monsoon research and education. The WMO Commission for Atmospheric Sciences presented him with a Certificate of Appreciation for outstanding leadership over a decade as the Chair of the Monsoon Panel.

He dedicated tremendous efforts to organizing the IWM series and special-topics workshops ranging from heavy rainfall to climate change, held in more than a dozen cities across Asia. Dr. Kumar Kolli, President of the Indian Meteorological Society, remarked, “Until 2021, Prof. Chang was pretty much the only party that provided a communication and interaction mechanism connecting monsoon researchers around the world.”

Professor Chang also played crucial roles in major national and international weather and climate programs, including the Meteorological Services Modernization project in Taipei, the Centre for Climate Research in Singapore, the APEC Climate Center in Busan, and the WWRP Southern China Monsoon Rainfall Experiment. In the 1980s, he strongly promoted the exchange and cooperation between the Chinese Meteorological Society and other meteorological societies. His efforts led to the founding of the Hong Kong Meteorological Society, which named him an Honorary Member on its 25th Anniversary.

Professor Chang's record in unselfish cooperation and leadership in geosciences in Asia and Oceania is exemplary and truly exemplifies the merit of the Wing Ip Medal.

Yali Luo, Professor, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology