
Professor Zhu received the B.Eng. degree in remote sensing from Wuhan University and the M.S. degree in geographic information science from Chinese Academy of Science, respectively, and earned the Ph.D. degree in earth and atmosphere science from Purdue University. Prior to joining HKU, he was working in University of California, San Diego, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement and Sun Yat-sen University. His research interests are agroecosystem modeling, climate change impacts and adaptation, remote sensing, food-water-carbon nexus. Through integrating field observations, remote sensing, data-driven and process models, he aims to help stakeholders to better tackle climate risks, design effective climate adaptation strategies and finally achieve agricultural sustainability.
Research Interests
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Agroecosystem modeling
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Climate change impacts and adaptation
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Environmental remote sensing
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Food-water-carbon nexus
Selected Publications
2025
Yan, K., Gao, S., Yan, G., Ma, X., Chen, X., Zhu, P.,…Wang, Q. (2025). A global systematic review of the remote sensing vegetation indices. International journal of applied earth observation and geoinformation, 139, 104560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2025.104560
Cai, Y., Li, X., Zhu, P., Nie, S., Wang, C., Liu, X., & Yu-he, C. (2025). China Earth Observation Data Cube: The 30m Seamless Annual Leaf-On Landsat Composites from 1985 to 2023. Journal of remote sensing, 5. https://doi.org/10.34133/remotesensing.0698
You, N., Till, J., Lobell, D. B., Zhu, P., West, P. C., Kong, H.,…Jin, Z. (2025). Climate-driven global cropland changes and consequent feedbacks. Nature geoscience, 18(7), 639-645. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-025-01724-1
Wang, F., Xue, M., Zhou, L., Doughty, C. E., Ciais, P., Reich, P. B.,…Chen, X. (2025). Contrasting age-dependent leaf acclimation strategies drive vegetation greening across deciduous broadleaf forests in mid- to high latitudes. Nature plants, 11(9), 1748-1758. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02096-5
Liu, R., Liang, J., Yang, J., He, J., & Zhu, P. (2025). Dual Classification Head Self-training Network for Cross-scene Hyperspectral Image Classification. https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2502.17879
Cao, Y., Kong, L., Xu, Z., Ding, Z., Wang, L., Liu, Y.,…Ouyang, Z. (2025). Exploring coordinated pathways for sustainable ecosystem and socioeconomic development: A case study of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Sustainable futures, 9, 100691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sftr.2025.100691
Guan, H., Zhu, P., Huang, J., Jin, Z., Ma, Y., Li, X.,…Wu, B. (2025). Extreme surface solar ultraviolet radiation events reduce maize yields in China. Communications earth & environment, 6(1), 449-412. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02432-9
Su, Y., Lauerwald, R., Makowski, D., Viovy, N., Guilpart, N., Zhu, P.,…Ciais, P. (2025). Future warming increases the chance of success of maize-wheat double cropping in Europe. European journal of agronomy, 170, 127723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2025.127723
Liang, J., Yang, J., Liu, R., Liu, Q., & Zhu, P. (2025). Spectral Structure-Aware Initialization and Probability-Consistent Self-Training for Cross-Scene Hyperspectral Image Classification. IEEE geoscience and remote sensing letters, 22, 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2025.3575600
Xiao, G., Huang, J., Zhuo, W., Huang, H., Song, J., Du, K.,…Jin, Z. (2025). Progress and Perspectives of Crop Yield Forecasting With Remote Sensing: A review. IEEE geoscience and remote sensing magazine, 13(3), 338-368. https://doi.org/10.1109/MGRS.2025.3571906
Yu, X., Xiao, R., Zhang, Z., Zhou, F., Mo, F., Xu, Z.,…Wu, J. (2025). Rising disparities in grain self-sufficiency across China: Provincial divergence amidst overall national improvement. Environmental impact assessment review, 114, 107942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2025.107942
2024
Yun, H., Ciais, P., Zhu, Q., Chen, D., Zohner, C. M., Tang, J., . . . Elberling, B. (2024). Changes in above- versus belowground biomass distribution in permafrost regions in response to climate warming. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121(25): e2314036121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2314036121
Wang, C., He, T., Song, D.-X., Zhang, L., Zhu, P. and Man, Y. (2024). Comparison of change-based and shape-based data fusion methods in fine-resolution land surface phenology monitoring with Landsat and Sentinel-2 data. Science of The Total Environment 927: 172014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172014
He, L., Bhattarai, N., Pokhrel, Y., Jia, N., Zhu, P., Ye, G., . . . Li, Z. B. (2024). Dynamics of land cover changes and carbon emissions driven by large dams in China. iScience 27(4): 109516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109516
Cai, Y., Zhu, P., Liu, X. and Zhou, Y. (2024). Forest fragmentation trends and modes in China: Implications for conservation and restoration. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 133: 104094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.104094
Fu, Z., Ciais, P., Wigneron, J.-P., Gentine, P., Feldman, A. F., Makowski, D., . . . Smith, W. K. (2024). Global critical soil moisture thresholds of plant water stress. Nature Communications 15(1): 4826. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49244-7
Liu, X., Zhu, P., Liu, S., Yu, L., Wang, Y., Du, Z., . . . Gong, P. (2024). Global cropland expansion enhances cropping potential and reduces its inequality among countries. Earth Syst. Dynam. 15(3): 817-828. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-817-2024
Liu, X., Zhu, P., Liu, S., Yu, L., Wang, Y., Du, Z., . . . Gong, P. (2024). Global cropland expansion enhances cropping potential and reduces its inequality among countries. Earth System Dynamics 15(3): 817-828. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-817-2024
Mai, R., Xin, Q., Qiu, J., Wang, Q. and Zhu, P. (2024). High Spatial Resolution Soil Moisture Improves Crop Yield Estimation. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 17: 19067-19077. https://doi.org/10.1109/jstars.2024.3417424
Mai, R., Xin, Q., Qiu, J., Wang, Q. and Zhu, P. (2024). High spatial resolution soil moisture improves crop yield estimation in the midwestern United States. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2024.3417424
Wang, S., Chen, H., Zhu, P. and Aghakouchak, A. (2024). Increasing Sensitivity of Winter Wheat Yield to Snow Drought, Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4937390/v1
Zhang, X., Yan, K., Liu, J., Yang, K., Pu, J., Yan, G., . . . Myneni, R. B. (2024). An Insight Into the Internal Consistency of MODIS Global Leaf Area Index Products. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 62: 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1109/tgrs.2024.3434366
Che, Y., Li, X., Liu, X., Xu, X., Huang, K., Zhu, P., . . . Li, X. (2024). Mapping of individual building heights reveals the large gap of urban-rural living spaces in the contiguous US. The Innovation Geoscience 2(2): 100069. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2024.100069
Fang, G., Sun, X., Zheng, H., Zhu, P., Wu, W., Yang, P. and Tang, H. (2024). Optimizing the ecosystem service flow of grain provision across metacoupling systems will improve transmission efficiency. Applied Geography 172: 103420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2024.103420
Xiong, Z., Zhang, Z., Gui, H., Zhu, P., Sun, Y., Zhou, X., . . . Xin, Q. (2024). Predicting time series of vegetation leaf area index across North America based on climate variables for land surface modeling using attention-enhanced LSTM. International Journal of Digital Earth 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2024.2372317
Zhong, R., Yan, K., Gao, S., Yang, K., Zhao, S., Ma, X., . . . Yin, G. (2024). Response of grassland growing season length to extreme climatic events on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Science of The Total Environment 909: 168488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168488
Peng, R., Yan, K., Liu, J., Gao, S., Pu, J., Maeda, E. E., . . . Myneni, R. B. (2024). Revisiting the consistency of MODIS LAI products from a new perspective of spatiotemporal variability. International Journal of Digital Earth 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/17538947.2024.2407045
Liu, Z., Guo, C., Yu, Q., Zhu, P., Peng, X., Dong, M., . . . Lu, X. (2024). A SIF-based approach for quantifying canopy photosynthesis by simulating the fraction of open PSII reaction centers (qL). Remote Sensing of Environment 305: 114111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114111
Cai, Y., Xu, X., Zhu, P., Nie, S., Wang, C., Xiong, Y. and Liu, X. (2024). Unveiling spatiotemporal tree cover patterns in China: The first 30 m annual tree cover mapping from 1985 to 2023. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 216: 240-258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2024.08.001
Peng, Y., Qiu, B., Tang, Z., Xu, W., Yang, P., Wu, W., . . . Li, Z. (2024). Where is tea grown in the world: A robust mapping framework for agroforestry crop with knowledge graph and sentinels images. Remote Sensing of Environment 303: 114016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114016
2023
Zeng, Y., Hao, D., Park, T., Zhu, P., Huete, A., Myneni, R., ... & Chen, M. 2023. Structural complexity biases vegetation greenness measures. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1-9.
Pan, Y., Peng, D., Chen, J. M., Myneni, R. B., Zhang, X., Huete, A. R., Wu, C. 2023. Climate-driven land surface phenology advance is overestimated due to ignoring land cover changes. Environmental Research Letters, 18(4), 044045.
Abramoff, R. Z., Ciais, P., Zhu, P., Hasegawa, T., Wakatsuki, H., & Makowski, D. 2023. Adaptation strategies strongly reduce the future impacts of climate change on simulated crop yields. Earth's Future, 11(4), e2022EF003190.
2022
Zhu, P., Burney, J., Chang, J., Jin, Z., Mueller, N.D., Xin, Q., Xu, J., Yu, L., Makowski, D. and Ciais, P., 2022. Warming reduces global agricultural production by decreasing cropping frequency and yields. Nature Climate Change, pp.1-8.
Zhu, P., Kim, T., Jin, Z., Lin, C., Wang, X., Ciais, P., Mueller, N.D., Aghakouchak, A., Huang, J., Mulla, D. and Makowski, D., 2022. The critical benefits of snowpack insulation and snowmelt for winter wheat productivity. Nature Climate Change, 12(5), pp.485-490.
Zhu, P. and Burney, J., 2022. Untangling irrigation effects on maize water and heat stress alleviation using satellite data. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 26(3), pp.827-840.
Yang, Y., Liu, L., Zhou, W., Guan, K., Tang, J., Kim, T., Grant, R.F., Peng, B., Zhu, P., Li, Z. and Griffis, T.J., 2022. Distinct driving mechanisms of non-growing season N2O emissions call for spatial-specific mitigation strategies in the US Midwest. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 324, p.109108.
Hao, D., Zeng, Y., Zhang, Z., Zhang, Y., Qiu, H., Biriukova, K., Celesti, M., Rossini, M., Zhu, P., Asrar, G.R. and Chen, M., 2022. Adjusting solar-induced fluorescence to nadir-viewing provides a better proxy for GPP. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 186, pp.157-169.
2021
Zhu, P., Abramoff, R., Makowski, D. and Ciais, P., 2021. Uncovering the past and future climate drivers of wheat yield shocks in Europe with machine learning. Earth's Future, 9(5), p.e2020EF001815.
Zhu, P. and Burney, J., 2021. Temperature‐driven harvest decisions amplify US winter wheat loss under climate warming. Global Change Biology, 27(3), pp.550-562.
2019
Zhu, P., Zhuang, Q., Archontoulis, S.V., Bernacchi, C. and Müller, C., 2019. Dissecting the nonlinear response of maize yield to high temperature stress with model‐data integration. Global Change Biology, 2019, 25(7): 2470-2484.
Zhu, P., Zhuang, Q., Welp, L., Ciais, P., Heimann, M., Peng, B., Li, W., Bernacchi, C., Roedenbeck, C. and Keenan, T.F., 2019. Recent warming has resulted in smaller gains in net carbon uptake in northern high latitudes. Journal of Climate, 32(18), pp.5849-5863.
Xu, X., Hu, H., Tan, Y., Yang, G., Zhu, P. and Jiang, B., 2019. Quantifying the impacts of climate variability and human interventions on crop production and food security in the Yangtze River Basin, China, 1990–2015. Science of the Total Environment, 665, pp.379-389.
2018
Zhu, P., Jin, Z., Zhuang, Q., Ciais, P., Bernacchi, C., Wang, X., Makowski, D. and Lobell, D., 2018. The important but weakening maize yield benefit of grain filling prolongation in the US Midwest. Global Change Biology, 24(10), pp.4718-4730.
2017
Zhu, P., Zhuang, Q., Eva, J. and Bernacchi, C., 2017. Importance of biophysical effects on climate warming mitigation potential of biofuel crops over the conterminous United States. Gcb Bioenergy, 9(3), pp.577-590.
Zhu, P., Zhuang, Q., Ciais, P., Welp, L., Li, W. and Xin, Q., 2017. Elevated atmospheric CO2 negatively impacts photosynthesis through radiative forcing and physiology‐mediated climate feedback. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(4), pp.1956-1963.
2015
Xin, Q., Broich, M., Zhu, P. and Gong, P., 2015. Modeling grassland spring onset across the Western United States using climate variables and MODIS-derived phenology metrics. Remote Sensing of Environment, 161, pp.63-77.
2014
Zhu, P. and Gong, P., 2014. Suitability mapping of global wetland areas and validation with remotely sensed data. Science China Earth Sciences, 57(10), pp.2283-2292.
Yu, L., Liang, L., Wang, J., Zhao, Y., Cheng, Q., Hu, L., Liu, S., Yu, L., Wang, X., Zhu, P. and Li, X., 2014. Meta-discoveries from a synthesis of satellite-based land-cover mapping research. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 35(13), pp.4573-4588.
2013
Gong, P., et al (including Peng Zhu)., 2013. Finer resolution observation and monitoring of global land cover: First mapping results with Landsat TM and ETM+ data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34(7), pp.2607-2654.
Journal Reviews
Nature Food, Nature Communications, Global Change Biology, Global Food Security, Global Change Biology Bioenergy, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Climate Risk Management, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of geophysical research, Agronomy Journal, Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, International Journal of Remote Sensing
