Shanghai, 2026 – How can we better understand the complex interactions that drive our planet's climate, and how can Artificial Intelligence help us predict its future? On April 28, the Xuemin Institute of Advanced Studies at Fudan University hosted the "Xuemin Forum," featuring a captivating lecture by Prof. Deliang Chen, a globally acclaimed climate scientist and a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The event, hosted by Dr. Xiaohong Helena Yang, Executive Dean of the Xuemin Institute, brought together over a hundred students and faculty members to explore the evolution of Earth System Science (ESS) and the revolutionary impact of AI on climate research.

From Isolated Spheres to a Unified Earth System

Prof. Chen took the audience on a journey through the history of Earth System Science. He explained that traditional science often studied the Earth in isolated parts—looking separately at the atmosphere, the oceans, or the biosphere. However, the Earth is a highly complex, interconnected system.

To truly understand global changes, scientists must break down disciplinary barriers. Prof. Chen emphasized that solving today's environmental crises requires a unified approach that integrates physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and even social sciences.

Five Core Challenges for the Next Decade

As human activities continue to push the Earth's climate away from its historical stability, Prof. Chen outlined five critical challenges facing Earth System Science between 2025 and 2030:

1.Improving Environmental Predictions: Enhancing the accuracy of forecasting extreme weather and long-term climate trends.

2.Upgrading Observation Systems: Filling data gaps in critical areas like the oceans and polar regions, while better tracking human activities.

3.Preventing Tipping Points: Understanding and avoiding irreversible environmental shifts, such as the collapse of the Amazon rainforest or the melting of polar ice caps.

4.Innovating Sustainable Solutions: Developing safe and effective interventions, such as renewable energy optimization, to mitigate climate impacts.

5.Driving Sustainable Transitions: Recognizing that climate change is deeply intertwined with social issues, including global inequality and geopolitical tensions.

The AI Revolution in Climate Science

Perhaps the most exciting part of the lecture was Prof. Chen's insights into how Artificial Intelligence is transforming climate research. Traditional scientific methods often struggle to explain the "butterfly effect" within complex systems.

Prof. Chen introduced the concept of "Abductive AI"—a methodology where AI generates hypotheses, tests them against massive datasets, and extracts understandable physical laws. From optimizing renewable energy grids against extreme weather to providing hyper-local climate simulations for city planning, AI is no longer just a tool for data processing; it is an accelerator for theoretical innovation. "AI will not replace scientists," Prof. Chen noted, "but it will vastly expand our capabilities to understand complex processes and make reliable climate predictions."

About Prof. Deliang Chen

Prof. Deliang Chen is a world-renowned meteorologist and climate researcher. He currently serves as the Xinghua Distinguished Chair Professor at Tsinghua University. As the former Executive Director of the International Council for Science (ICSU), he played a pivotal role in launching the global "Future Earth" research initiative. Prof. Chen is an elected member of several prestigious academies, including the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (RSAS), the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, the World Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg, as well as a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He has been recognized globally for his pioneering work in climate downscaling models and Earth System Science.

The Xuemin Forum is dedicated to building a high-level platform for cutting-edge academic exchange, inviting top global scholars to share their pioneering research and promote the integration of basic sciences across various fields.