Dr. Zhiyu Liu
Professor
Email: zyliu(at)xmu.edu.cn
▶Visiting Scientist (Program Participant), KITP, UCSB, USA (Apr. 2018)
▶Vis. Sr. Res. Fellow (with Trevor McDougall FRS), UNSW Sydney, Australia (Sep. 2017–Feb. 2018)
▶Professor of Oceanography, Xiamen University (2015–)
▶Visiting Scientist (with Marina Lévy), UPMC (Paris VI), France (2013–2014)
▶Associate Professor, Xiamen University (2010–2015)
▶Assistant Professor, Xiamen University (2009–2010)
▶Ph.D. (Phys. Oceanogr.), Ocean University of China (2009)
▶Visiting Student (with Stephen Thorpe FRS), Bangor University, UK (2007–2009)
▶Visiting Student (with Iossif Lozovatsky), Arizona State University, USA (Feb.–May 2006)
▶B.Sc. (Phys. Oceanogr.), Ocean University of China (2004)
▶The Dynamical Oceanography Group (DyOG) of the Xiamen University, led by Prof. Zhiyu Liu, seeks to advance dynamical interpretation and prediction of multi-scale oceanic processes and phenomena as revealed by observations and numerical simulations. The researches conducted by DyOG are mostly process-oriented and grounded in fundamental geophysical fluid dynamics. Ocean dynamics at scales around and below the deformation radius (i.e., the oceanic small to meso-scales) is a particular focus of DyOG.
▶Topics with ongoing research efforts: ocean turbulence and mixing, geophysical instabilities, ocean scale interactions and energy transfers, internal gravity waves, upper ocean dynamics, wave-turbulence/vortex decomposition/interactions, water mass transformation and overturning circulation
Wang C., Liu Z.* et al. (2025), A practical separation of oceanic vortical and wavy motions entangled in the SWOT measurements, Geophysical Research Letters, 52(12), e2024GL113995.
Wang C., Liu Z.* et al. (2025), Disentangling wavy and vortical motions in concurrent snapshots of the sea surface height and velocity, Ocean Modelling, 196, 102556.
Tian Y., Bai X., Wang C., and Liu Z.* (2025), Tidal energetics in the eddying South China Sea from a high-resolution numerical simulation, Progress in Oceanography, 231, 103418.
Cao Z., Liu Z.* et al. (2024), Scaling the diurnal mixing/mixed layer depth in the tropical ocean: A case study in the South China Sea, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 129(9), e2024JC021296.
Wang C., Liu Z.*, and Lin H. (2023), A simple approach for disentangling vortical and wavy motions of oceanic flows, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 53(5), 1237–1249.
Wang C., Liu Z.*, and Lin H. (2023), On dynamical decomposition of multiscale oceanic motions, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 15(3), e2022MS003556.
Bai X., Lamb K.G., Liu Z.* et al. (2023), Intermittent generation of internal solitary-like waves on the northern shelf of the South China Sea, Geophysical Research Letters, 50(6), e2022GL102502.
Liu Z.* et al. (2017), Weak thermocline mixing in the North Pacific low-latitude western boundary current system, Geophysical Research Letters, 44(20), 10,530–10,539.
Liu Z.*, Thorpe S.A., and Smyth W.D. (2012), Instability and hydraulics of turbulent stratified shear flows, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 695, 235–256.
Liu Z.* (2010), Instability of baroclinic tidal flow in a stratified fjord, Journal of Physical Oceanography, 40(1), 139–154. (See
or ResearchGate for a full list of publications with citation metrics.)
