Dr. Xiangdong Zhang is a professor at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has conducted integrative researches on northern high and mid latitude and Arctic climate variability and changes, including atmospheric circulation dynamics, water and energy cycle, storm track dynamics, atmosphere-sea ice-ocean-hydrology interactions, and extreme climate, weather, and hydrology events. His research has been published at highly regarded journals including Nature Climate Change, Nature Geoscience, and Nature Communications, many of which have been well cited by the scientific community and reported and highlighted by various media agencies. He has served as an expert reviewer of IPCC AR5 and a member of the U.S. CLIVAR Phenomena, Observations, and Synthesis (POS) panel, and participated in the WCRP CliC Arctic Freshwater Synthesis. He is now a co-chair of the U.S. CLIVAR Working Group of Arctic Change and Possible Influence on Midlatitude Climate and Weather, a co-lead of the task team of CliC-CLIVAR Northern Oceans Region Panel (NORP) on Advancing the Understanding of Climate Variability Due to Arctic–Midlatitude Linkages, and a member of Regional Processes and Transports Working Group of the International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA).