Tianjia (Tina) Liu is an interdisciplinary environmental scientist with a PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University and a BA in Environmental Science from Columbia University. Prior to joining UBC, she was a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Irvine.

The EMBRS (Environmental Modeling, oBservations, and Remote Sensing) Lab’s research lies at the intersection of geography, atmospheric science, and public health, with special focus on India, Equatorial Asia, and North America. We use remote sensing, GIS, data science, and atmospheric models to study natural disasters, climate extremes, and human-environment interactions. We rely on a variety of data sources from satellites, aircraft, ground monitors, models, surveys, and reports. Key research themes include modern human-fire relationships, the role of fire in the Earth system, and the impacts of extreme events on planetary health.

2026

Ouattara, B., N. Touré, J. Danumah, T. Liu, and F. Mouillot. 2026. When less burning does not mean cleaner air:
Decoupling of burned area, fire-related PM2.5 emissions, and population exposure in West Africa. Environ. Chall.,
22, 101424. doi:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2026.101424.

Scholten, R.C., T. Banerjee, Y. Chen, A. Delgado, A. Desai, Z. Ke, T. Liu, D.C. Morton, D.A. Peterson, Q. Tang,
S. Veraverbeke, J. Zhang, and J.T. Randerson. 2026. Multi-ignition fire complexes drive extreme fire years and
impacts. Sci. Adv., 12, eadx6477. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adx6477 

Coffield, S.R., T.D. McCabe, W. Schroder, Y. Chen, E. Orland, T. Liu, E.B. Wiggins, J.T. Randerson, M.B.
Follette-Cook, and D.C. Morton. 2026. Leveraging additional VIIRS information to improve fire tracking and
emissions estimation in the western US. Remote Sens. Environ., 334, 115156. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2025.115156

2025

Feng, X., L.J. Mickley, J.O. Kaplan, M. Kelp, Y. Li, and T. Liu .2025. Large role of anthropogenic climate change
in driving smoke concentrations across the western United States from 1992 to 2020. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
U.S.A., 122(49), e2421903122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2421903122

Orland, E., T.D. McCabe, Y. Chen, R.C. Scholten, Z. Becker, R. Loehman, J.T. Randerson, S.R. Coffield, T. Liu,
A.N. Shiklomanov, K. Nelson, B. Peterson, M.B. Follette-Cook, and D.C. Morton. 2025. Near real-time indicators
of burn severity in the western U.S. from active fire tracking. Fire Ecol., 21, 55. doi: 10.1186/s42408-025-00407-x

VoPham, T., T. Liu, M. Cortez, S. Karasaki, N.F. Falkenberg, H.Y. Zewdie, J. Lin, C. Nondin, S.L.S. Chao, T.
Knowlton, B. Quennehen, J.A. Mendoza, G.N. Ioannou, K. Berry, G. Adamkiewicz, C.I. Li, and J.E. Hart. 2025.
Exposure to outdoor air pollution, wildfires, and cancer survival in the United States. Cancer Epidemiol., 98,
102899. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2025.102899

Schollaert, C., R. Connolly, L. Cushing, M. Jerrett, T. Liu, and M.E. Marlier. 2025. Air quality impacts of the 2025
Los Angeles wildfires: Insights from public data sources. Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett., 2(8), 911-917. doi:
10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00486

Parrington, M., and 22 others, including T. Liu. 2025. Biomass burning emission estimation in the MODIS era:
state-of-the-art and future directions. Elem. Sci. Anth., 13(1), 00089. doi: 10.1525/elementa.2024.00089

Kelp, M., M. Burke, M. Qiu, I. Higuera-Mendieta, T. Liu, and N. Diffenbaugh. 2025. Effect of recent prescribed
burning and land management on wildfire burn severity and smoke emissions in the western United States. AGU
Advances, 6, e2025AV001682. doi: 10.1029/2025AV001682

Chung, K., T. Liu, M. Kelp, K. Vohra, D. Skelly, M.C. Carroll, J. Schwartz, and L.J. Mickley. 2025. Managing
smoke risk from wildland fires: Northern California as a case study. Environ. Sci. Technol., 59(27), 13912-13923. doi:
10.1021/acs.est.5c01914

Whaley, C. H., K. Manomaiphiboon, W. Tang, J. Ma, V. Tanpipat, K. Tsigaridis, S. R. Arnold, M. Parrington, Y. Xie, C. Wiedinmyer, M. Huang, T. Liu, P. Zuidema, D. S. Hamilton, J.-L. Kouassi, R. R. Buchholz, H. Hung, R. Ambulkar, O. Wild, P. Saxena, B. Gaubert, J. A. Adame, H. Peiro, V. Surapipith, M. Mertens, G. Koren, J. W. Kaiser, T. Butler, E. Bergas Masso, J. L. Mccarty, S. Sonwani, J. W. Kaminski, C. Knote, D. Y. T. Tan, and M. Lin. 2025. HTAP3 Fires: towards a multi-model, multi-pollutant study of fire impacts. Geoscientific Model Development 18(11). Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh: 3265–3309. doi: 10.5194/gmd-18-3265-2025.

2024

Liu, T. Panday, F. M. Caine, M. C. Kelp, M. Pendergrass, D. C. Mickley, L. J. Ellicott, E. A. Marlier, M. E. Ahmadov, R. and E. P. James. 2024. Is the smoke aloft? Caveats regarding the use of the Hazard Mapping System (HMS) smoke product as a proxy for surface smoke presence across the United States. International Journal of Wildland Fire 33: WF23148. doi:10.1071/WF23148

Madrigano, J. Yan, D. Liu, T. Bonilla, E. Yulianti, N. Mickley, L. J. and M. E. Marlier. 2024. Air pollution and blood pressure: Evidence from Indonesia. GeoHealth 8 (7). doi: 10.1029/2024GH001014

Liu, T. Randerson, J. T. Chen, Y. Morton, D. C. Wiggins, E. B. Smyth, P. Foufoula-Georgiou, E. Nadler, R. and O. Nevo. 2024. Systematically tracking the hourly progression of large wildfires using GOES satellite observations. Earth System Science Data 16 (3): 1395–1424. doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1395-2024

Feng, X. Mickley, L. J. Bell, M. L. Liu, T. Fisher, J. A. and M. Val Martin. 2024. Improved estimates of smoke  exposure during Australia fire seasons: Importance of quantifying plume injection heights. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 24: 2985–3007. doi: 10.5194/acp-24-2985-2024

2023

Kelp, M. Fargiano, T. Lin, S. Liu, T. Turner, J. R. Kutz, J. N. and L. J. Mickley. 2023. Data-driven placement of PM_2.5 air quality sensors in the United States: an approach to target urban environmental injustice. GeoHealth 7 e2023GH000834. doi:10.1029/2023GH000834

Singh, A. Raj, S. S. Panda, U. Kommula, S. M. Jose, C. Liu, T. Huang, S. Swain, B. Pöhlker, M. L. Reyes-Villegas, E. Ojha, N. Vaishya, A. Bigi, A. Ravikrishna, R. Zhu, Q. Shi, L. Allen, J. Martin, S. T. McFiggans, G. Andreae, M. O. Pöschl, U. Coe, H. Bianchi, F. Su, H. Kanawade, V. P. Liu, P. and S. S. Gunthe. 2023. Rapid growth and high cloud-forming potential of anthropogenic sulfate aerosol in a thermal power plant plume during COVID lockdown in India. NPJ Climate Atmospheric Science 6 (109). doi:10.1038/s41612-023-00430-2

Gautam, R. Patel, P. N. Singh, M. K. Liu, T. Mickley, L. J. Jethva, H. and R. S. DeFries. 2023. Extreme smog challenge of India intensified by increasing lower tropospheric stability. Geophysical Research Letters 50 (11). doi: 10.1029/2023GL103105

Dang, R. Jacob, D. J. Shah, V. Eastham, S. D. Fritz, T. M. Mickley, L. J. Liu, T. Wang, Y. and J. Wang. 2023. Background nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) over the United States and its implications for satellite observations and trends: effects of nitrate photolysis, aircraft, and open fires. Atmos Chem Phys 23 (11): 6271-6284. doi: 10.5194/acp-23-6271-2023

Kelp, M. Carroll, M. Liu, T. Yantosca, R. M. Hockenberry, H. E. and L. J. Mickley. 2023. Prescribed burns as a tool to mitigate future wildfire smoke exposures: Lessons for states and environmental justice communities. Earth’s Future 11 (6). doi: 10.1029/2022EF003468.

Crowley, M. A. Stockdale, C. A. Johnston, J. M. Wulder, M. A. Liu, T. McCarty, J. L. Rieb, J. T. Cardille, J. A. and J. C. White. 2023. Towards a whole-system framework for wildfire monitoring using Earth observations. Global Change Biology 29 (6): 1423-1436. doi: 10.1111/gcb.16567

2022

Liu, T. Mickley, L. J. Patel, P. N. Gautam, R. Jain, M. Singh, S. Balwinder-Singh, DeFries, R. S. and M.E. Marlier. 2022. Cascading delays in the monsoon rice growing season and post-monsoon agricultural fires likely exacerbate air pollution in north India. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 127 e2022JD036790. doi: 10.1029/2022JD036790

Lan, R. Eastham, S. D. Liu, T. Norford, L. K. and S.R.H. Barrett. 2022. Air quality impacts of crop residue burning in India and mitigation alternatives. Nature Communications 13 (6537). doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34093-z

2021

Kommula, S. Panda, U. Sharma, A. Raj, S. S. Reyes Villegas, E. Liu, T. Allan, J. Jose, C. Pöhlker, M. L. Raghunathan, R. Liu, P. Su, H. Martin, S. Pöschl, U. McFiggans, G. Coe, H. and S.S. Gunthe. 2021. Chemical characterization and source apportionment of organic aerosols in the coastal city of Chennai, India: Impact of marine air masses on aerosol chemical composition and potential for SOA formation. ACS Earth Space Chemistry 5(11): 3197–3209. doi: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.1c00276

Zhou, X. Josey, K. Kamareddine, L. Caine, M. C. Liu, T. Mickley, L. J. Cooper, M. and F. Dominici. 2021. Excess of COVID-19 cases and deaths due to fine particulate matter exposure during the 2020 wildfires in the United States. Science Advances 7 (33): eabi8789. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abi878

Liu, T. Mickley, L. J. and J. L. McCarty. 2021. Global search for temporal shifts in fire activity: potential human influence on southwest Russia and north Australia fire seasons. Environmental Research Letters 16 (4): 044023. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/abe328

Gunthe, S. S. Liu, P. Panda, U. Raj, S. S. Sharma, A. Derbyshire, E. Reyes-Villegas, E. Allan, J. Chen, Y. Wang, X. Song, S. Pöhlker, M. L. Wang, Y. Kommula, S. M. Liu, T. Ravikrishna, R. McFiggans, G. Mickley, L. J. Martin, S. T. Pöschl, U. Andreae, M. O. and H. Coe. 2021. Enhanced aerosol particle growth sustained by high continental chlorine emission in India. Nature Geoscience 14: 77-84. doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-00677-x

Liu, T. Mickley, L. J. Gautam, R. Singh, M. K. DeFries, R. S. and M. E. Marlier. 2021. Detection of delay in post-monsoon agricultural burning across Punjab, India: potential drivers and consequences for air quality. Environmental Research Letters 16 (1). doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/abcc28