Soong-Ki Kim
Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, USA
Contact: soong-ki.kim@yale.edu
Research Area: Climate System, Climate Change, Climate Variability
Education
March 2020 – February 2023 Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
March 2020 – February 2023 Advisor: Soon-Il An
March 2020 – February 2023 Fulfilled military service obligation as Technical Research Personnel (1 year out of 3-year service)
September 2017 – August 2019 M.S. in Atmospheric Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
September 2017 – August 2019 Advisor: Soon-Il An
March 2013 – August 2017 B.S. in Atmospheric Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
March 2013 – August 2017 B.S. in Physics, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
March 2013 – August 2017 Double Major, Class Rank: 1/30
March 2011 – February 2013 Kangwon Science High School, Wonju, South Korea
March 2011 – February 2013 Early Graduation
Professional Experience
April 2026 – Present Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, USA
Host: Alexey Fedorov
March 2025 – April 2026 Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, USA
Host: Alexey Fedorov
March 2023 – February 2025 Postdoctoral Researcher, Irreversible Climate Change Research Center, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
Host: Soon-Il An
Fulfilled military service obligation as Technical Research Personnel (2 years out of 3-year service)
March 2024 – April 2024 Visiting Researcher, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, USA
Host: Fei-Fei Jin
Publications
Publications are listed here
Professional Activities and Service
Project Leader: CLIVAR Working Group: ENSO Conceptual Models - Community Recharge Oscillator (CRO) project (2024 – Present)
Member: CLIVAR Working Group: ENSO Conceptual Models (2020 – Present)
Organizer:
· Yale Atmosphere, Oceans, Climate Dynamics Seminar Series (2025 – Present)
· UTokyo-SNU-Yonsei Joint Workshop on Earth System Interaction under Changing Climate (2024)
Session Convener:
· JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026 (A-CG53: Climate Variability and Predictability on Subseasonal to Centennial Timescales)
· AGU Annual Meeting 2025 (OS011: El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pantropical Climate Interactions: Mechanisms, Predictability, Impacts, and Projections)
· AGU Annual Meeting 2024 (OS015: El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pantropical Climate Interactions: Mechanisms, Predictability, Impacts, and Projections)
Journal Reviewer: Total of 67 Papers.
· Nature (2025)
· Nature Geoscience (2025, 2026)
· npj Climate and Atmospheric Science (2023a, 2023b, 2023c, 2024a, 2024b, 2025a, 2025b, 2026)
· Communications Earth & Environment (2023, 2025, 2026)
· Journal of Climate (2022, 2023, 2024a, 2024b, 2024c, 2024d, 2024e, 2024f, 2025a, 2025b, 2025c, 2025d)
· Earth System Dynamics (2023, 2024)
· Environmental Research Letters (2023, 2024a, 2024b, 2025a, 2025b, 2025c, 2026a, 2026b)
· Environmental Research: Climate (2025, 2026)
· Environmental Research Communications (2026)
· Geophysical Research Letters (2023a, 2023b, 2023c, 2024a, 2024b, 2024c, 2025a, 2025b, 2025c, 2026)
· Geoscience Letters (2025)
· Global and Planetary Change (2026)
· Climate Dynamics (2023a, 2023b, 2024, 2025, 2026)
· Machine Learning: Earth (2025)
· International Journal of Climatology (2024)
· Theoretical and Applied Climatology (2025)
· Frontiers in Climate (2025)
· Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (2024)
· Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (2023, 2024)
· Physical Review E (2026)
· Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena (2026)
· Reports on Progress in Physics (2024)
· Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment (2026)
Reviewer: Outstanding Student Presentation Awards (OSPA) for AGU Annual Meeting 2024
Awards
Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship, UCAR (2026) (formerly NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship)
Best Doctoral Dissertation Award, Korean Meteorological Society (2023)
Outstanding Academic Paper Award, Yonsei University (2023)
Honors with Excellent Grade, Yonsei University (2016a, 2016b, 2017)
Teaching Experience
Instructor
ENSO Winter School 2025 (Honolulu, USA)
· Day 3: ENSO Recharge Oscillator Practical: Simulations and Forecasting
· Project Team 4: Using reduced-complexity models to diagnose ENSO in CGCMs and future projections
Guest Lecturer
Invited lecture on ENSO dynamics in the Climate Dynamics course (ATM4105), Yonsei University, November 2024
Teaching Assistant
Undergraduate courses at Yonsei University
· Climate Dynamics (ATM4105, Fall 2018)
· Air-Sea Interaction (ATM2106, Spring 2018)
· Computational Fluid Dynamics (ATM4103, Fall 2017)
Invited Talks
[6] Birth of a climate oscillation in the Arctic Ocean due to global warming, POSTECH (South Korea) (January 2025)
[5] Emergence of a climate oscillation in the Arctic Ocean due to global warming, CN-coESM Workshop: Response and Feedback of Arctic-boreal Permafrost and Wildfires to Climate Change (China) (October 2024)
[4] Climate Tipping Points: Raising the Planetary Alarm, BK21 Yonsei Earth Science Seminar (South Korea) (January 2024)
[3] Widespread Irreversible Changes in Surface Temperature and Precipitation in response to CO2 forcing, Young Scientist Special Session at KMS Fall Meeting (South Korea) (November 2023)
[2] Slow and soft passage through tipping point of the AMOC, POSTECH (South Korea) (July 2023)
[1] Can we reverse climate change if we remove CO2 from the atmosphere?, Yonsei Young Star Session at Global Engagement & Empowerment Forum (South Korea) (February 2023)
Contributed Talks and Presentations
Conferences (*: presenting author)
[12] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. Emergence of a decadal climate oscillation in the Arctic Ocean due to global warming, AGU Annual Meeting (USA) (December 2025) (Poster)
[11] S.-K. Kim*, F.-F. Jin, S.-I. An, S. Zhao, L. Geng, M. F. Stuecker, C. Liu, A. V. Fedorov. The response of extreme La Niña events to global warming: theory, mechanisms, and CMIP model projections, Wyrtki Symposium (USA) (March 2025) (Poster)
[10] S.-K. Kim*, H.-J. Park, S.-I. An, C. Liu, W. Cai, A. Santoso, J.-S. Kug. Decreased Indian Ocean Dipole variability under prolonged greenhouse warming, AGU Annual Meeting (USA) (December 2024) (Oral)
[9] S.-I. An, H.-J. Kim, S.-K. Kim*. Rate-dependent Hysteresis of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, AOGS Annual Meeting (Singapore) (August 2023) (Poster)
[8] S.-K. Kim*, J. Shin, S.-I. An, H.-J. Kim, N. Im, S.-P. Xie, J.-S. Kug, S.-W. Yeh. Irreversible changes in surface temperature and precipitation to CO2 forcing, EGU General Assembly (Austria) (April 2023) (Poster)
[7] S.-K. Kim*, H.-J. Kim, H. Dijkstra, S.-I. An. Slow and Soft Passage Through Tipping Point of the AMOC in a Changing Climate, AOGS Annual Meeting (Online) (August 2022) (Poster)
[6] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. The Origin of ENSO Phase Locking: Seasonal Gap Theory, AGU Fall Meeting (Online) (December 2020) (Poster)
[5] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. Understanding El Niño-La Niña Asymmetries Using a Nonlinear Recharge Oscillator Model, AOGS Annual Meeting (Online) (July 2020) (Poster)
[4] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. Assessing ENSO characteristics in CMIP using nonlinear recharge oscillator, AGU Fall Meeting (USA) (December 2018) (Poster)
[3] S.-I. An, S.-K. Kim*. Nonlinear Recharge Oscillator, AGU Fall Meeting (USA) (December 2018) (Poster)
[2] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. A New Conceptual Model for ENSO: Nonlinear Recharge Oscillator, KMS Fall Meeting (South Korea) (October 2018) (Oral)
[1] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. Portraying ENSO Skewness in Nonlinear Recharge Oscillator Model, IBS Conference on Climate Change and Human Migration (South Korea) (November 2017) (Poster)
Selected Talks
[3] "Title withheld", NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (USA) (April 2026) (Oral)
[2] Birth of climate oscillation in the Arctic Ocean by global warming, UTokyo-SNU-Yonsei Joint Workshop on Earth System Interaction under Changing Climate (Japan) (August 2024) (Oral)
[1] Widespread Irreversible Changes in Surface Temperature and Precipitation in response to CO2 forcing, UTokyo-SNU-Yonsei Joint Workshop (South Korea) (March 2023) (Oral)
Mandatory Military Service
March 2023 – February 2025 Technical Research Personnel*, Institute of Natural Sciences, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
March 2022 – February 2023 Technical Research Personnel*, The Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
*Technical Research Personnel is a specialized military service program in South Korea that allows individuals to fulfill their mandatory military service obligations
through contributions to scientific research and development.