XIEG Holds 55th Salon for Scientific Exchange

The Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, successfully held the 55th Salon for Scientific Exchange on April 10. This event invited Dr. Parisa Hosseinzadehtalaei, a visiting scientist at XIEG, as the keynote speaker.

Under the theme “Buckle up for Future Droughts”， Dr. Hosseinzadehtalaei presented her research on different types of droughts, compound drought–heatwave events, and the socioeconomic impacts of climate extremes. She emphasized that meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural droughts exhibit distinct characteristics and should not be used interchangeably due to their spatially varying responses to climate change, differing uncertainties, and varying signal-to-noise ratios.

Beyond the analysis of drought types, Dr. Hosseinzadehtalaei examined compound drought–heatwave events and their broader societal implications. She demonstrated that projections of compound hot–dry events are highly sensitive to how “dry conditions” are defined. Different indicators such as precipitation, runoff, and soil moisture can lead to significantly different risk estimates, highlighting the critical role of methodological choices in shaping projections of future climate risks.

In the final part of her presentation, she addressed the socioeconomic impacts of climate extremes, revealing substantial inequalities in human exposure. Her findings showed that low-income countries are projected to face disproportionately higher exposure, largely driven by population growth rather than climate change alone. These results underscore the importance of integrating physical climate science with socioeconomic factors to support more effective and equitable adaptation strategies.

During the discussion session, participants exchanged views with her on the importance of integrating additional vulnerability factors such as population age and education level as well as adaptive capacity indicators, including government effectiveness, into impact assessments.

Dr. Parisa Hosseinzadehtalaei is a visiting scientist at XIEG and a Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) Research Fellow at Ghent University. She earned her PhD in Civil Engineering from KU Leuven and works on climate extremes, compound drought–heatwave events, and climate risk. She has authored 52 journal papers, with work appearing in journals including Nature Communications and Communications Earth & Environment. She was ranked among the top 2% of scientists worldwide in 2023.

Dr. Parisa Hosseinzadehtalaei gives her presentation. (Image by XIEG)

Contact

LONG Huaping

Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography

E-mail: longhp@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Web: http://english.egi.cas.cn