个人简介 / About Chen

杨晨，研究员/副教授，博士生导师 / Chen Yang, PhD, Associate Professor

国家海外高层次青年人才计划入选者 / NSFC early career award

研究方向 ParFlow集成水文模型研发; 地下水与陆气交互作用

 

Selected ongoing work

1. A new hybrid physics–ML framework for ParFlow–land surface coupling

1. 面向新一代 ParFlow–陆面耦合的物理–机器学习混合框架

Three-dimensional variably saturated groundwater simulations are computationally expensive. We develop a hybrid framework that couples a ParFlow surrogate with CoLM, where the surrogate can be implemented using either RNN- or Transformer-based architectures. The surrogate is trained with a sequence length of 120 hours, yet remains stable when rolled out over a full-year (8760-hour) simulation in a selected headwater. The hybrid system achieves nearly a 20× speedup while preserving key groundwater–land surface interaction processes. This framework offers a promising pathway for future groundwater–land–atmosphere coupling.

三维变饱和地下水模拟计算代价高。本研究构建了基于 ParFlow 代理模型与 CoLM 的混合耦合框架，其中代理模型可采用 RNN 或 Transformer 架构。代理模型训练时序长度为120小时，但在典型流域全年（8760小时）的滚动预测中仍保持稳定。相比传统全物理模拟，该框架在显著提升计算效率（约10–20倍）的同时，保留了地下水与陆面过程的关键相互作用。该框架为未来地下水–陆气耦合研究提供了新的可能。

**PFFD为在CoLM/PF模型中采用自由排水边界，无地下水侧向流，类传统陆面模式设置。PFFD denotes a CoLM/ParFlow configuration with free drainage and no lateral groundwater flow, analogous to traditional land surface models.

2. Water resources carrying capacity of the loss plateau under vegetation greening: the role of groundwater 

2. 植被变绿背景下黄土高原水资源承载力研究：地下水角色探究 (current progress)

图为ParFlow CONCN模型模拟的多年平均地下水埋深。Figure shows quasi-steady state water table depth simulated by ParFlow CONCN model.

 

News and Announcements

  • 03/2025, a deep learning surrogate model was built for CONCN modeling platform [link]
  • 02/2025, ParFlow CONCN modeling platform was accepted for publication in HESS
  • 02/2025, ParFlow-NASA LIS (land information system) was published in JAMES [link]
  • 01/2025, our Nature Water paper (continental particle tracking) was published online
  • 12/2024, Chuke Chen, student mentored at SUSTech, was elected Tsinghua Shuimu Scholar
  • 11/2024, our ParFlow modeling platform from bedrock to canopy top got funded by NSFC
  • 11/2024, CoLM and ParFlow have been preliminarily coupled [link]

 

小组成员 / Group Members

  • Aoqi Sun (孙奥奇), M.S. student, groundwater–land surface interactions
  • Hui Huang (黄辉), M.S. student, deep learning and ensemble modeling
  • Wenjie Xu (徐文杰), PhD student, remote sensing and hydrologic modeling
  • Jiyuan Hu (胡基源), PhD student, data assimilation and model intercomparison
  • Zeyu Tang (唐泽宇), Research assistant, large-scale hydrologic modeling and data fusion  
  • Zihan Wang (王梓涵), Undergraduate intern, CONCN model sharing platform development
  • Atlas (艾特拉斯), Guess who?    

 

微信公众号 / Wechat Official Account

 

研究兴趣 / Research Interests

• Terrestrial water cycle dynamics, with emphasis on groundwater–land–atmosphere interactions 

• Integrated hydrologic modeling of surface water and 3D variably saturated groundwater systems 

• Development and application of fully coupled hydrologic–land surface modeling frameworks 

• High-performance massively parallel computing using hybrid architectures (OpenMP, MPI, and CUDA) 

• Spatiotemporal scaling theory for biogeochemical processes in reactive transport systems 

• Stochastic theory and its applications in hydrology

 

个人网站 / Personal Website

https://aureliayang.github.io/

 

联系方式 / Contact Chen

电子邮箱 / Email：yangch329@mail.sysu.edu.cn

办公地点 / Office：中山大学珠海校区海琴2号A536-4

 

工作经历 / Professional Experience

06/2024至今，副教授，中山大学，大气科学学院 

Associate Professor, Sun Yat-sen University, School of Atmospheric Sciences

09/2020–05/2024，副研究员，美国普林斯顿大学，土木与环境工程系 

Associate Research Scholar, Princeton University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

12/2018–02/2020，助理研究员，南方科技大学，环境科学与工程学院 

Research Associate, Southern University of Science and Technology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering

10/2015–11/2018，博士后研究员，中国地质大学（武汉），环境学院 

Postdoctoral Researcher, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), School of Environmental Studies

 

教育经历 / Education

09/2015，博士，南京大学，水文学及水资源 

PhD, Nanjing University, Hydrology and Water Resources

06/2010，学士，中国地质大学（武汉），水文与水资源工程 

BE, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering

 

访问经历 / Visiting Experience

12/2019–08/2020，美国科罗拉多矿业学院 / Colorado School of Mines

04/2019–11/2019，美国休斯敦大学 / University of Houston

11/2015–04/2017，美国太平洋西北国家实验室 / Pacific Northwest National Lab

 

代表性文章 / Selected Papers

(student author#)

Submitted

  • Sun AQ#, Xu WJ#, Ma EZ, Yuan H, Yang C*, 2026. Progressive groundwater decoupling may drive a shift toward shallower and faster terrestrial water cycling [preprint]. EGUsphere.

Published

  • Yang C*, Sun AQ#, Zhang SP, Dai YJ, Kollet SJ, Maxwell RM, 2026. Twenty years of trials and insights: bridging legacy and next generation in ParFlow and land surface model coupling [link]. Geoscientific Model Development, 19(5): 1849-1866.
  • Yang C*, Jia ZT, Xu WJ#, Wei ZW, Zhang XL, Zou YG, Mcdonnell JJ, Condon LE, Dai YJ, Maxwell RM, 2025. CONCN: a high-resolution, integrated surface water-groundwater ParFlow modeling platform of continental China [link]. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 29(9): 220-2218.
  • Yang C*, Condon LE, Maxwell RM, 2025. Unraveling groundwater-stream connections over the continental United States [link]. Nature Water, 3, 70-79.
  • Yang C*, Maxwell RM, McDonnell JJ, Yang XF, Tijerina-Kreuzer DT, 2023. The role of topography in controlling evapotranspiration age [link]. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128(18): e2023JD039228.
  • Yang C*, Ponder CG, Wang B, Tran HV, Zhang J, Swilley JS, Condon LE, Maxwell RM, 2023. Accelerating the Lagrangian particle tracking in hydrology to continental-scale [link]. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 15(5): e2022MS003507.