Ling Qi

Papers

Total Citations

130

H-Index

About

Ling Qi is a leading environmental scientist whose research illuminates the critical role of black carbon aerosols in the Earth’s climate system, with a particular focus on the Tibetan Plateau. Her most influential work, “Black carbon radiative forcing over the Tibetan Plateau” (2014), has garnered over 130 citations, establishing a foundational framework for understanding how light-absorbing particles accelerate snowmelt and alter regional energy balances. By integrating a global chemical transport model with a stochastic snow model and radiative transfer calculations, Qi demonstrated that black carbon deposition reduces snow albedo, producing an annual mean radiative forcing of 2.9 W m⁻² over the plateau—a region often called the “Third Pole” for its vast ice reserves. This finding has profound implications for water security in Asia, where glacier melt feeds major rivers. Qi’s research bridges atmospheric chemistry, cryospheric science, and climate modeling, offering critical insights into the feedbacks between pollution and climate change. Her work is essential reading for students and researchers studying aerosol-climate interactions, snow hydrology, and the disproportionate vulnerability of high-altitude ecosystems to anthropogenic emissions.