Climate Dynamics at Colorado State University

We are using conceptual energy balance models, climate models of low and high resolution, and observations to study how the ocean influences atmospheric feedbacks on large scales and stores and redistributes heat. We like thinking about first-order controls on Earth’s climate, the concept of climate forcings, deep time paleo climate, internal variability, and the theory and sociology of science.

Group members

  • Two postdoc position available, please reach out! Probably accepting one Master's or PhD student in the Fall of 2025.

  • Maria Rugenstein email, Since 2020, I am an assistant professor for climate dynamics at the Department of Atmospheric Scienceat Colorado State University in Fort Collins. I studied at ETH Zürich, completed my Master's research at Princeton University/GFDL, and dived into paleoclimate research for two years in Utrecht, before completing my PhD in Zürich with visits to Stanford University and the Carnegie Institute for Global Ecology and a PostDoc at MPI in Hamburg. I coordinated a model intercomparison of millennia long simulations of global coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Models, LongRunMIP, together with Jonah Bloch-Johnson, and initiated the Green's Function Model Intercomparison, lead by Jonah. Check out this US-clivar workshop on the pattern effect I chaired together with Cristi Proistosescu. My group is funded by NASA (NIP), NSF (CLD and P2C2), and NOAA (MAPP).

  • Yiyu Zheng, 4th year PhD student, website
  • Leif Fredericks, 3rd year Master's student
  • Olivia Lee, 2nd year Master's student
  • Killian McSweeney, 2nd year Master's student
  • Aspen Morgan, 1st year Master's student
  • Senne Van Loon, PostDoc, website
  • Shreya Dhame, PostDoc at Max-Planck in Hamburg, website
  • Former group members: Dhyey Solanki (now researcher at the Indian Institute of Technology); Marc Alessi (now lecturer at Cornell and PostDoc as the Union of Concerned Scientists); Dirk Olonscheck (now PostDoc at MPI); Kenneth Tam (now graduate student at Rutgers University)

Publications

Google scholar

  • Liu, Li, Li, Rugenstein, Thomas, 2024 Contrasting fast and slow intertropical convergence zone migrations linked to delayed Southern Ocean warming, Nature Climate Change link
  • Alessi and Rugenstein, 2024 Potential Near-Term Wetting of the Southwestern United States if the Eastern and Central Pacific Cooling Trend Reverses, GRL link
  • Olonscheck and Rugenstein, 2024 Coupled climate models systematically underestimate radiation response to surface forcing, GRL link
  • Bloch-Johnson, Rugenstein, Alessi, and 10 others, 2024 The Green's Function Model Intercomparison Project (GFMIP) Protocol, JAMES link
  • Rugenstein, Dhame, Olonscheck, Wills, Watanabe, Seager, 2023 Connecting the SST pattern problem and the hot model problem, GRL link
  • Rugenstein, Zelinka, Karnauskas, Ceppi, Andrews, 2023 Patterns of Surface Warming Matter for Climate Sensitivity, EOS link
  • Alessi and Rugenstein, 2023 Relevance of the pattern effect for near-future climate projections, GRL link
  • Mitevski, Dong, Polvani, Rugenstein, Orbe, 2023: Non-monotonic feedback dependence on CO2 due to North Atlantic pattern effect, GRL link
  • Rugenstein and Hakuba, 2023: Connecting Hemispheric Asymmetries of Planetary Albedo and Surface Temperature, GRL link
  • Fredriksen, Smith, Modak, Rugenstein, 2023: 21st century scenario forcing increases more for CMIP6 than CMIP5 models, GRL link
  • Bloch-Johnson, Rugenstein, Gregory, Cael, Andrews, 2022: Climate impact assessments should not discount 'hot' models, Nature link
  • Sanderson and Rugenstein, 2022: Potential for bias in effective climate sensitivity from state-dependent energetic imbalance, Earth System Dynamics link
  • Zheng, Rugenstein, Pieper, Beobide-Arsuaga, Baehr, 2022: El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) predictability in equilibrated warmer climates, Earth System Dynamics link
  • Bonan, Thompson, Newsom, Sun, Rugenstein, 2022: Transient and Equilibrium Responses of the Atlantic Overturning Circulation to Warming in Coupled Climate Models: The Role of Temperature and Salinity, J. Climate link
  • Fredriksen, Rugenstein, Graversen, 2021: Estimating forcing with a nonconstant feedback parameter and linear response, JGR Atmospheres link
  • Rugenstein and Armour, 2021: Three flavors of radiative feedbacks and their implications for estimating Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity, GRL link pdf
  • Lu, He, Fuso, Rugenstein, 2021: Mechanisms of Fast Walker Circulation Responses to CO2 Forcing, GRL link pdf
  • King, and 9 others, 2021: Transient and quasi-equilibrium climate states at 1.5C and 2C global warming, Earth's Future link
  • Ricke, Ivanova, McKie, Rugenstein, 2021: Reversing Sahelian Droughts, GRL link pdf
  • Callahan, Chen, Rugenstein, Bloch-Johnson, Yang, Moyer, 2021: Robust decrease in ENSO amplitude under long-term warming, Nature Climate Change link
  • Schwarzwald, Poppick, Rugenstein, Bloch-Johnson, Wang, McInerney, Moyer, 2021: Changes in Future Precipitation Mean and Variability across Scales, J. Climate link
  • Bloch-Johnson, Rugenstein, Stolpe, Rohrschneider, Zheng, Gregory, 2020: Climate Sensitivity Increases Under Higher CO2 Levels Due to Feedback Temperature Dependence, GRL link
  • Sherwood, Webb and 22 others, 2020: A combined assessment of Earth's climate sensitivity, Rev. of Geophys. press coverage press coverage
  • Fiedler, and 24 others, 2020: Simulated Tropical Precipitation Assessed Across Three Major Phases of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), MWR link
  • Olonscheck, Rugenstein, Marotzke, 2020: Broad consistency between observed and simulated trends in sea surface temperature patterns, GRL link pdf
  • Bloch-Johnson, Rugenstein, Abbot, 2020: Spatial radiative feedbacks from internal variability using multiple regression, J. Climate link pdf
  • Rugenstein, Bloch-Johnson, Gregory, and 13 others, 2020: Equilibrium climate sensitivity estimated by equilibrating climate models, GRL link pdf
  • Bellouin, Quaas, and 31 others, 2020: Bounding aerosol radiative forcing of climate, Rev. of Geophys. link pdf
  • Rugenstein, Bloch-Johnson, and 25 others, 2019: LongRunMIP - motivation and design for a large collection of millennial-length GCM simulations, BAMS link pdf
  • Praetorius, Rugenstein, Persad, Caldeira, 2018: Global and Arctic climate sensitivity enhanced by changes in North Pacific heat flux, Nature Comm. link pdf
  • Knutti, Rugenstein, Hegerl, 2017: Beyond climate sensitivity, Nature Geoscience link updated Figure
  • Rugenstein, Caldeira, Knutti, 2016: Dependence of global radiative feedbacks on evolving patterns of surface heat fluxes, GRL link pdf
  • He, Winton, Vecchi, Jia, Rugenstein, 2016: Transient Climate Sensitivity Depends on Base Climate Ocean Circulation, J. Climate link pdf
  • Rugenstein, Gregory, Schaller, Sedlacek, Knutti, 2016: Multi-annual ocean-atmosphere adjustments to radiative forcing, J. Climate link pdf
  • Rugenstein, Sedlacek, Knutti, 2016: Nonlinearities in patterns of long term ocean warming, GRL link pdf
  • Knutti and Rugenstein, 2015: Feedbacks, climate sensitivity and the limits of linear models, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A link pdf
  • Rugenstein, Stocchi, von der Heydt, Dijkstra, Brinkhuis, 2014: Emplacement of Antarctic ice sheet mass affects circumpolar ocean flow, Global and Planetary Change link pdf
  • Rugenstein, Winton, Stouffer, Griffies, Hallberg, 2013: Northern high latitude heat budget decomposition and transient warming, J. Climate link pdf

Manuscripts in review or revision

  • Joensson, Rugenstein, Bender, McCoy, Eidhammer A recipe for simulating the observed interhemispheric albedo symmetry and constraining cloud radiative feedbacks
  • Dhame, Olonscheck, Rugenstein No robust improvement in biases of the equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature mean state and trends in high resolution climate models
  • Davis, Thompson, Rugenstein, Birner Role of the pattern effect on relationships between internal climate variability and forced climate feedbacks
  • Thompson, Rugenstein, Forster, Fredericks Observed Relationships Between the Global Mean Radiative Flux and Regional Temperatures: The Preeminence of the Southeast Tropical Pacific
  • Rugenstein, Van Loon, and Barnes Convolutional Neural Networks trained on internal variability predict forced response through learning the pattern effect
  • Van Loon, Rugenstein, and Barnes Observation-based estimate of Earth's radiative forcing
  • Zheng, Rugenstein, and Alessi Connecting delayed warming in the Southern Ocean and East Pacific