Hong Ao is a professor of Geophysics,Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimate Science at Institute of Earth Environment,Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is an author of more than 70 journal articles with more than 2,000 citations  dealing with magnetostratigraphy,rock magnetism,environmental magnetism,Asian and global paleoclimate,climatic modulation on hominin evolution and dispersal,and other aspects of Earth science.

Education

09.2004–06.2009:  PhD  Solid Geophysics  Institute of Geology and Geophysics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,China

09.2001–08.2004:  BSc  Geophysics  Jilin University,China

Awards/Honors

2009: Excellent Doctoral Graduate Award of Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

2011: Science and Technology Award of Chinese Geophysical Society for Young Talents

2011: Election to Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences

2013: Science and Technology Award of Shaanxi Province for Young Talents

2014: Lu Jiaxi Award of Chinese Academy of Sciences for Young Talents

2017: Shaanxi Provence Youth Talent Support Program

2023: Shaanxi Province Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project

Principal Research Interests

(1) Cenozoic magnetostratigraphy and environmental magnetism: significances for geological problems

(2) Cenozoic Asian climate and tectonics

(3) Asian hominid chronology and paleoenvironmental dependence

Selected publications (*corresponding author)

1. Ao H*,Liebrand D,Dekkers M J,et al. Orbital- and millennial-scale Asian winter monsoon variability across the Pliocene–Pleistocene glacial intensification. Nature Communications,2024,doi: 10.1038/S41467-024-47274-9.

2. Ao H*,Ruan J*,Martinón-Torres M,et al. Concurrent Asian monsoon strengthening and early modern human dispersal to East Asia during the last interglacial. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,2024,121(3):e2308994121.

3. Ao H*,Rohling E J,Li X,et al. Northern hemisphere ice sheet expansion intensified Asian aridification and the winter monsoon across the mid-Pleistocene transition. Communications Earth & Environment,2023,4(1):36.

4. Ao H*,Liebrand D,Dekkers M J,et al. Eccentricity-paced monsoon variability on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau in the Late Oligocene high CO₂ world. Science Advances,2021,7(51):eabk2318.

5. Ao H*,Rohling E J,Zhang R*,et al. Global warming-induced Asian hydrological climate transition across the Miocene–Pliocene boundary. Nature Communications,2021,12(1):6935.

6. Ao H*,Rohling E J,Stringer C,et al. Two-stage mid-Brunhes climate transition and mid-Pleistocene human diversification. Earth-Science Reviews,2020,210: 103354.

7. Ao H*,Dupont-Nivet G,Rohling E J,et al. Orbital climate variability on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau across the Eocene–Oligocene transition. Nature Communications,2020,11(1):5249.

8. Peng X,Ao H*,Xiao G,et al. The early-middle Pleistocene transition of Asian summer monsoon. Palaeogeography,Palaeoclimatology,Palaeoecology,2020,545: 109636.

9. Zhang P*,Ao H*,Roberts A P,et al. Magnetochronology of Mid-Miocene mammalian fauna in the Lanzhou Basin,northeastern Tibetan Plateau: Implications for Asian mammal migration. Geoscience Frontiers,2020,11(4):1337-1344.

10. Ao H*,Dekkers M J,Roberts A P,et al. Mineral magnetic record of the Miocene-Pliocene climate transition on the Chinese Loess Plateau,North China. Quaternary Research,2018,89(3):619-628.

11. Li X,Ao H*,Dekkers M J,et al. Early Pleistocene occurrence of Acheulian technology in North China. Quaternary Science Reviews,2017,156: 12-22.

12. Ao H*,Liu C R,Roberts A P,et al. An updated age for the Xujiayao hominin from the Nihewan Basin,North China: implications for Middle Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia. Journal of Human Evolution,2017,106: 54-65.

13. Zhang P,Ao H*,Dekkers M J,et al. Late Oligocene–Early Miocene magnetochronology of the mammalian faunas in the Lanzhou Basin–environmental changes in the NE margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Scientific Reports,2016,6(1):38023.

14. Ao H*,Roberts A P,Dekkers M J,et al. Late Miocene–Pliocene Asian monsoon intensification linked to Antarctic ice-sheet growth. Earth and Planetary Science Letters,2016,444: 75-87.

15. Ao H*,Zhang P,Dekkers M J,et al. New magnetochronology of Late Miocene mammal fauna,NE Tibetan Plateau,China: Mammal migration and paleoenvironments. Earth and Planetary Science Letters,2016,434: 220-230.

16. Ao H*,Dekkers M J,Wei Q,et al. New evidence for early presence of hominids in North China. Scientific Reports,2013,3(1):2403.

17. Ao H*,An Z,Dekkers M J,et al. Pleistocene magnetochronology of the fauna and Paleolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin: Significance for environmental and hominin evolution in North China. Quaternary Geochronology,2013,18: 78-92.

18. Ao H*,Dekkers M J,An Z,et al. Magnetostratigraphic evidence of a mid-Pliocene onset of the Nihewan Formation–implications for early fauna and hominid occupation in the Nihewan Basin,North China. Quaternary Science Reviews,2013,59: 30-42.

19. Ao H*,An Z,Dekkers M J,et al. High‐resolution record of geomagnetic excursions in the Matuyama chron constrains the ages of the Feiliang and Lanpo Paleolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin,North China. Geochemistry,Geophysics,Geosystems,2012,13(8).

20. Ao H*,Dekkers M J,Xiao G,et al. Different orbital rhythms in the Asian summer monsoon records from North and South China during the Pleistocene. Global and Planetary Change,2012,80: 51-60.

21. Ao H*,Xiao G. History and Prediction of the Asian Monsoon and Glacial Terminations,Based on Records from the South China Sea. International Perspectives on Global Environmental Change,2012.

22. Ao H*,Dekkers M J,Qin L,et al. An updated astronomical timescale for the Plio-Pleistocene deposits from South China Sea and new insights into Asian monsoon evolution. Quaternary Science Reviews,2011,30(13-14):1560-1575.

23. Ao H*,Deng C,Dekkers M J,et al. Astronomical dating of the Xiantai,Donggutuo and Maliang Paleolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin (North China) and implications for early human evolution in East Asia. Palaeogeography,Palaeoclimatology,Palaeoecology,2010,297(1):129-137.

24. Ao H*,Deng C,Dekkers M J,et al. Magnetic mineral dissolution in Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine sediments,Nihewan Basin (North China). Earth and Planetary Science Letters,2010,292(1-2):191-200.

25. Ao H*. Mineral-magnetic signal of long-term climatic variation in Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine sediments,Nihewan Basin (North China). Journal of Asian Earth Sciences,2010,39(6):692-700.

26. Ao H*,Deng C,Dekkers M J,et al. Pleistocene environmental evolution in the Nihewan Basin and implication for early human colonization of North China. Quaternary International,2010,223: 472-478.

27. Ao H*,Dekkers M J,Deng C,et al. Palaeclimatic significance of the Xiantai fluvio-lacustrine sequence in the Nihewan Basin (North China),based on rock magnetic properties and clay mineralogy. Geophysical Journal International,2009,177(3):913-924.