World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Rising Stars
2025

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Rising Stars

D-Index
51
Citations
15895
World Ranking
286
National Ranking
95

Environmental Sciences

D-Index
58
Citations
19800
World Ranking
3199
National Ranking
335

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2025 - Research.com Rising Stars Award

Overview

Zhenzhong Zeng is affiliated with the Southern University of Science and Technology in China. Their research primarily spans the field of Environmental Science, with an extensive body of work that includes 263 publications. Key subfields of study where their research is concentrated include Global and Planetary Change, Atmospheric Science, Environmental Engineering, Ecology, and Water Science and Technology.

The scientist's research covers several main topics such as Climate Variability and Models, Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics, Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations, Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies, Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics, Flood Risk Assessment and Management, and Cryospheric Studies and Observations.

Among recent significant publications by Zeng are the following:

  • "High-spatiotemporal-resolution mapping of global urban change from 1985 to 2015" (2020), published in Nature Sustainability
  • "High-resolution (1 km) Köppen-Geiger maps for 1901-2099 based on constrained CMIP6 projections" (2023), published in Scientific Data
  • "Summer soil drying exacerbated by earlier spring greening of northern vegetation" (2020), published in Science Advances
  • "The changing nature of groundwater in the global water cycle" (2024), published in Science
  • "High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability" (2022), published in Nature Geoscience

Zeng often collaborates with a number of frequent co-authors including:

  • Alan D. Ziegler (33 joint publications)
  • Dashan Wang (30 joint publications)
  • Philippe Ciais (20 joint publications)
  • Jie Wu (20 joint publications)
  • Shijing Liang (18 joint publications)

Zeng's work has appeared repeatedly in several publication venues, notably:

  • Environmental Research Letters (11 publications)
  • Geophysical Research Letters (8 publications)
  • Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres (7 publications)
  • Nature Sustainability (5 publications)
  • Environmental Science & Technology (5 publications)

In addition to journal articles, Zeng has contributed to academic books, including a publication with Frontiers Media titled Hydroclimatic Extremes: Human-Natural System Adaptation and Impacts (2022).

Best Publications

  • Greening of the Earth and its drivers

    Zaichun Zhu;Zaichun Zhu;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Ranga B. Myneni;Mengtian Huang

  • Revegetation in China’s Loess Plateau is approaching sustainable water resource limits

    Xiaoming Feng;Bojie Fu;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Shuai Wang

  • Declining global warming effects on the phenology of spring leaf unfolding.

    Yongshuo H. Fu;Hongfang Zhao;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Marc Peaucelle

  • Detection and Attribution of Vegetation Greening Trend in China over the Last 30 Years

    Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Guodong Yin;Jianguang Tan;Lei Cheng

  • High-spatiotemporal-resolution mapping of global urban change from 1985 to 2015

    Xiaoping Liu;Yinghuai Huang;Xiaocong Xu;Xuecao Li

  • Afforestation in China cools local land surface temperature

    Shu-Shi Peng;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Zhenzhong Zeng;Philippe Ciais

  • Evidence for a weakening relationship between interannual temperature variability and northern vegetation activity

    Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Huijuan Nan;Chris Huntingford;Philippe Ciais

  • Evaporative cooling over the Tibetan Plateau induced by vegetation growth

    Miaogen Shen;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Su-Jong Jeong;Liming Zhou

  • Leaf onset in the northern hemisphere triggered by daytime temperature

    Shilong Piao;Jianguang Tan;Anping Chen;Yongshuo H. Fu

  • Climate mitigation from vegetation biophysical feedbacks during the past three decades

    Zhenzhong Zeng;Shilong Piao;Laurent Z. X. Li;Liming Zhou

  • Divergent hydrological response to large-scale afforestation and vegetation greening in China

    Yue Li;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Laurent Z. X. Li;Anping Chen

  • A reversal in global terrestrial stilling and its implications for wind energy production

    Zhenzhong Zeng;Zhenzhong Zeng;Alan D. Ziegler;Timothy Searchinger;Long Yang

  • Summer soil drying exacerbated by earlier spring greening of northern vegetation.

    Xu Lian;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Laurent Z. X. Li;Yue Li

  • Temperature, precipitation, and insolation effects on autumn vegetation phenology in temperate China

    Qiang Liu;Yongshuo H Fu;Yongshuo H Fu;Zhenzhong Zeng;Mengtian Huang

  • Partitioning global land evapotranspiration using CMIP5 models constrained by observations

    Xu Lian;Shilong Piao;Chris Huntingford;Yue Li

  • Change in terrestrial ecosystem water‐use efficiency over the last three decades

    Mengtian Huang;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Yan Sun;Philippe Ciais

  • High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability

    Unknown

  • The contribution of China’s emissions to global climate forcing

    Bengang G. Li;Thomas Gasser;Philippe Ciais;Shilong L. Piao;Shilong L. Piao

  • Highland cropland expansion and forest loss in Southeast Asia in the twenty-first century

    Zhenzhong Zeng;Lyndon Estes;Alan D. Ziegler;Anping Chen

  • Doubling of annual forest carbon loss over the tropics during the early twenty-first century

    Unknown

  • Impact of Earth Greening on the Terrestrial Water Cycle

    Zhenzhong Zeng;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Laurent Z. X. Li;Tao Wang

  • Global evapotranspiration over the past three decades: estimation based on the water balance equation combined with empirical models

    Zhenzhong Zeng;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Xin Lin;Guodong Yin

Frequent Co-Authors

Shilong Piao
Shilong Piao Peking University
Shushi Peng
Shushi Peng Peking University
Anping Chen
Anping Chen Colorado State University
Xuhui Wang
Xuhui Wang Peking University
Eric F. Wood
Eric F. Wood Princeton University
Jiafu Mao
Jiafu Mao Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Xiaoying Shi
Xiaoying Shi Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Laurent Li
Laurent Li École Normale Supérieure
Ranga B. Myneni
Ranga B. Myneni Boston University
Tao Wang
Tao Wang Chinese Academy of Sciences

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