Defu Zou

5.9k total citations · 3 hit papers
100 papers, 3.3k citations indexed

About

Defu Zou is a scholar working on Atmospheric Science, Environmental Engineering and Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law. According to data from OpenAlex, Defu Zou has authored 100 papers receiving a total of 3.3k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 93 papers in Atmospheric Science, 21 papers in Environmental Engineering and 10 papers in Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law. Recurrent topics in Defu Zou's work include Climate change and permafrost (88 papers), Cryospheric studies and observations (81 papers) and Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics (41 papers). Defu Zou is often cited by papers focused on Climate change and permafrost (88 papers), Cryospheric studies and observations (81 papers) and Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics (41 papers). Defu Zou collaborates with scholars based in China, Japan and United States. Defu Zou's co-authors include Lin Zhao, Guojie Hu, Xiaodong Wu, Tonghua Wu, Qiangqiang Pang, Yu Sheng, Changwei Xie, Erji Du, Yongping Qiao and Ren Li and has published in prestigious journals such as PLoS ONE, The Science of The Total Environment and Remote Sensing of Environment.

In The Last Decade

Defu Zou

86 papers receiving 3.2k citations

Hit Papers

align trajectories

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

A new map of permafrost distribution on the Tibetan Plateau

2017 671 citations Defu Zou, Lin Zhao et al. The cryosphere profile →
Characteristic, changes and impacts of permafrost on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

2019 238 citations Li Ren, Xin Li et al. profile →
Changing climate and the permafrost environment on the Qinghai–Tibet (Xizang) plateau

2020 219 citations Lin Zhao, Defu Zou et al. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name	h						Papers	Cites
Defu Zou China	30	2.8k	467	464	420	284	100	3.3k
Guojie Hu China	34	3.7k 1.3×	679 1.5×	525 1.1×	594 1.4×	384 1.4×	145	4.4k
Ren Li China	31	2.1k 0.8×	410 0.9×	290 0.6×	452 1.1×	262 0.9×	107	2.8k
Yongping Qiao China	28	2.3k 0.8×	421 0.9×	255 0.5×	422 1.0×	215 0.8×	79	2.6k
Qiangqiang Pang China	24	2.2k 0.8×	343 0.7×	270 0.6×	258 0.6×	267 0.9×	42	2.6k
Changwei Xie China	29	2.4k 0.9×	369 0.8×	328 0.7×	343 0.8×	209 0.7×	79	2.8k
Yu Sheng China	35	3.1k 1.1×	360 0.8×	436 0.9×	399 0.9×	352 1.2×	121	3.9k
Xiaofan Zhu China	31	1.9k 0.7×	350 0.7×	272 0.6×	590 1.4×	237 0.8×	93	2.4k
Jichun Wu China	22	1.3k 0.5×	386 0.8×	233 0.5×	219 0.5×	236 0.8×	100	2.0k
Guodong Cheng China	18	1.9k 0.7×	184 0.4×	215 0.5×	324 0.8×	252 0.9×	23	2.3k
Giacomo Bertoldi Italy	23	942 0.3×	607 1.3×	400 0.9×	605 1.4×	175 0.6×	63	1.8k

Countries citing papers authored by Defu Zou

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Defu Zou's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Defu Zou with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Defu Zou more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Defu Zou

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Defu Zou. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Defu Zou. The network helps show where Defu Zou may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Defu Zou

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Defu Zou. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Defu Zou based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Defu Zou. Defu Zou is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

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20 of 20 papers shown

Zhao, Lin, Lingxiao Wang, Lin Liu, et al.. (2025). Ground surface deformation in permafrost region on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: A review. Earth-Science Reviews. 265. 105109–105109.

Zou, Defu, Guojie Hu, Lin Zhao, et al.. (2025). Ground surface temperature variations and their links to permafrost distribution in the Genhe River Basin, Da Xing'anling Mountain Range. Advances in Climate Change Research. 16(6). 1218–1228.

Zhao, Lin, Defu Zou, Guangyue Liu, et al.. (2025). Spatial distribution of vegetation type in the Genhe River Basin based on multi-source data. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 46(24). 9597–9621.

Du, Erji, Lin Zhao, Guojie Hu, et al.. (2025). A Soil Refractive Index (SRI) Model Characterizing the Functional Relationship Between Soil Moisture Content and Permittivity. Water. 17(3). 399–399. 1 indexed citations

Zhao, Lin, Zhe Sun, Guojie Hu, et al.. (2025). The thermal state of permafrost under climate change on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (1980–2022): a case study of the West Kunlun. The cryosphere. 19(10). 4211–4236. 1 indexed citations

Xing, Zanpin, Lin Zhao, Gabriëlle De Lannoy, et al.. (2024). Retrieval of 1 km surface soil moisture from Sentinel-1 over bare soil and grassland on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Remote Sensing of Environment. 318. 114563–114563. 4 indexed citations

Wu, Yifan, Lin Zhao, Defu Zou, et al.. (2024). Assessment of Soil Temperature and Its Change Trends in the Permafrost Regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Land. 13(7). 1029–1029.

Duan, Pan, Tianjie Zhao, Zhen Wang, et al.. (2024). An improved change detection method for high-resolution soil moisture mapping in permafrost regions. GIScience & Remote Sensing. 61(1). 4 indexed citations

Zhang, Yuxin, Lin Zhao, Changwei Xie, et al.. (2024). A new approach for evaluating regional permafrost changes: A case study in the Hoh Xil on the interior Qinghai‒Tibet Plateau. Advances in Climate Change Research. 15(6). 1040–1056. 1 indexed citations

10.

Chen, Jie, Tonghua Wu, Junming Hao, et al.. (2024). Predicting Seasonal Deformation Using InSAR and Machine Learning in the Permafrost Regions of the Yangtze River Source Region. Water Resources Research. 60(9). 7 indexed citations

11.

Zhao, Lin, Guojie Hu, Guangyue Liu, et al.. (2024). Investigation, Monitoring, and Simulation of Permafrost on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau: A Review. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. 35(3). 412–422. 18 indexed citations

12.

Liu, Wenhao, Ren Li, Tonghua Wu, et al.. (2023). Spatiotemporal Patterns and Regional Differences in Soil Thermal Conductivity on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Remote Sensing. 15(4). 1168–1168. 9 indexed citations

13.

Zou, Defu, Lin Zhao, Guangyue Liu, et al.. (2022). Vegetation Mapping in the Permafrost Region: A Case Study on the Central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Remote Sensing. 14(1). 232–232. 6 indexed citations

14.

Zhao, Lin, Lingxiao Wang, Defu Zou, et al.. (2022). Retrieving Soil Moisture in the Permafrost Environment by Sentinel-1/2 Temporal Data on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Remote Sensing. 14(23). 5966–5966. 5 indexed citations

15.

Liu, Guangyue, Lin Zhao, Changwei Xie, et al.. (2022). The Zonation of Mountain Frozen Ground under Aspect Adjustment Revealed by Ground-Penetrating Radar Survey—A Case Study of a Small Catchment in the Upper Reaches of the Yellow River, Northeastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Remote Sensing. 14(10). 2450–2450. 4 indexed citations

16.

Zhao, Lin, Defu Zou, Guojie Hu, et al.. (2021). A synthesis dataset of permafrost thermal state for the Qinghai–Tibet (Xizang) Plateau, China. Earth system science data. 13(8). 4207–4218. 126 indexed citations

17.

Zhao, Lin, Defu Zou, Guojie Hu, et al.. (2021). A synthesis dataset of permafrost thermal state for the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau, China. 8 indexed citations

18.

Wang, Dong, Tonghua Wu, Lin Zhao, et al.. (2021). A 1 km resolution soil organic carbon dataset for frozen ground in the Third Pole. Earth system science data. 13(7). 3453–3465. 52 indexed citations

19.

Ni, Jie, Tonghua Wu, Xiaofan Zhu, et al.. (2020). Simulation of the Present and Future Projection of Permafrost on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau with Statistical and Machine Learning Models. Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres. 126(2). 116 indexed citations

20.

Du, Erji, Lin Zhao, Tonghua Wu, et al.. (2016). The relationship between the ground surface layer permittivity and active-layer thawing depth in a Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau permafrost area. Cold Regions Science and Technology. 126. 55–60. 8 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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