Tieyuan Zhu

My research aims to improve the geophysical understanding of dynamic processes at Earth’s surface and in the subsurface. We combine multi-geophysics sensing including conventional seismometers, fiber-optic sensing, ground penetrating radar, wave-physics modeling, and machine learning to detect and interpret motion, deformation, fracture, and environmental change.

A growing focus of our work is the dynamics of the Arctic cryosphere, including sea-ice movement and collisions with landfast ice, ice-wedge cracking, permafrost change, and interactions among ice, ocean, atmosphere, and coastal landscapes. We also study landslides and other geohazards, hydrological and storm-driven processes, and fluid and fracture evolution in geothermal and carbon-storage systems.

By integrating continuous field observations with computational and physical models, we seek to understand how dynamic Earth systems respond to environmental forcing, how they transition toward failure, and how geophysical measurements can improve their monitoring and prediction.