Adjunct Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Tykeson Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at University of Oregon
He/Him/His
About
Chris Poulsen is the Henry Pollack Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences and Climate & Space Sciences & Engineering; and the Associate Dean for Natural Sciences, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
Research Focuses
Climate change; climate modeling; paleoclimate and paleoceanography; paleoaltimetry; surface-atmosphere interactions; water stable isotopes.
Research Interests
Chris' research group focuses on large-scale climate change through Earth history. They investigate how and why climate has changed using state-of-the-art climate models, and the implications for future climate change. They also explore surface-atmosphere interactions through modeling and field-based observations of water isotopes.
Publications
Selected recent representative publications (full list can be found here).
Tierney, J.E., Poulsen, C.J., Montanez, I.P., et al. (2020) Past climates inform our future. Science, 370, 6517, doi://10.1126/science.aay3701.
Zhu, J., Poulsen, C.J., and Tierney, J. (2019). Simulation of Eocene extreme warmth and high climate sensitivity through low-cloud feedbacks, Science Advances, 5: eeax1874, doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax1874.
Aron, P.G., Poulsen, C.J., Fiorella, R.P., and Matheny, A.M. (2019). Forest canopy water cycling in northern Michigan revealed by stable water isotopes, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 124, 2958-2975, doi:10.1029/2019JG005118.
Skinner, C.B., Poulsen, C.J., Chadwick, R., Diffenbaugh, N.S., and Fiorella, R.P. (2016) The role of plant CO2 physiological forcing in shaping future daily-scale precipitation, Journal of Climate. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0603.1.
Tabor, C.R., Poulsen, C.J., Lunt, D.J., Rosenbloom, N.A., Otto-Bliesner, B.L., Markwick, P.J., Brady, E.C., and Farnsworth, A., (2016) The cause of Late Cretaceous cooling: A multi-model/proxy comparison, Geology, doi:10.1130/G38363.1.
Fiorella, R.P., Poulsen, C.J., Pillco Zola, R.S., Barnes, J., Tabor, C., and Ehlers, T.A. (2015). Spatiotemporal variability of modern precipitation d18O in the Central Andes and implications for paleoclimate and paloaltimetry estimates, Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, 120(10), 4630-4656, doi: 10.1002/2014JD022893.
Poulsen, C.J., Tabor, C.R., and White, J.D. (2015). Long-term climate forcing by atmospheric oxygen concentrations, Science, 348 (6240), 1238-1241, doi:10.1126/science.1260670.
Feng, R., Poulsen, C.J., Werner, M., Chamberlain, C.P., Mix, H.T., and Mulch, A. (2013). Evolution of Early Cenozoic topography, climate, and stable isotopes in precipitation in the North American Cordillera, American Journal of Science, 313, 613-648, doi:10.2475/07.2013.01.
Insel, N., Poulsen, C.J., and Ehlers, T.A., (2010). Influence of the Andes Mountains on South American moisture transport, convection, and precipitation, Climate Dynamics, v. 35, 1477-1492, doi:10.1007/s00382-009-0637-1.
Poulsen, C.J., Ehlers, T.A., and Insel, N., (2010). Onset of convective rainfall during gradual Late Miocene rise of the Central Andes, Science, 328, 490-493, doi:10.1126/science.1185078.
