Soong-Ki Kim
Postdoctoral Researcher at the 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 of 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
Professional Experience
March 2025 – Present Postdoctoral Researcher, 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 of 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 55 Papers.
· Nature (2025)
· Nature Geoscience (2025)
· npj Climate and Atmospheric Science (2023a, 2023b, 2023c, 2024a, 2024b, 2025a, 2025b)
· Communications Earth & Environment (2023, 2025)
· 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)
· Environmental Research: Climate (2025)
· Geophysical Research Letters (2023a, 2023b, 2023c, 2024a, 2024b, 2024c, 2025a, 2025b, 2025c)
· Geoscience Letters (2025)
· Climate Dynamics (2023a, 2023b, 2024, 2025)
· 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)
· Reports on Progress in Physics (2024)
Reviewer: Outstanding Student Presentation Awards (OSPA) for AGU Annual Meeting 2024
Awards
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] Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (Pohang, South Korea) (January 2025)
[5] CN-coESM Workshop: Response and Feedback of Arctic-boreal Permafrost and Wildfires to Climate Change (Beijing, China) (October 2024)
[4] BK21 Yonsei Earth Science Seminar (Seoul, South Korea) (January 2024)
[3] Young Scientist Special Session at 2023 Korean Meteorological Society Fall Meeting (Busan, South Korea) (November 2023)
[2] Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) (Pohang, South Korea) (July 2023)
[1] Yonsei Young Star Session at Global Engagement & Empowerment Forum (GEEF) (Seoul, South Korea) (February 2023)
Conference Proceedings
*: proceedings where I am the presenter
International
[19] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. Emergence of a decadal climate oscillation in the Arctic Ocean due to global warming, A41H-2130, AGU Annual Meeting (USA) (December 2025)
[18] 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, A42C-08, AGU Annual Meeting (USA) (December 2024)
[17] C. Liu, S.-I. An, S.-K. Kim, M. F. Stuecker, W. Zhang, F.-F. Jin. Synchronous Decadal Climate in the Central Tropical Pacific and South Atlantic, AS61-A010, AOGS Annual Meeting (South Korea) (June 2024)
[16] Jérôme Vialard and CLIVAR ENSO conceptual model Working Group. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) recharge oscillator conceptual model : past achievements, future prospects, EGU24-2133, EGU General Assembly (Austria) (April 2024)
[15] C. Liu, S.-I. An, S.-K. Kim, M. F. Stuecker, W. Zhang, F.-F. Jin, J.-H. Park, L. Jiang, A. Xue, X. Geng, H.-J. Park, Y.-M. Yang, J.-S. Kug, Synchronous Decadal Climate Variability in the Tropical Central Pacific and Tropical South Atlantic, EGU24-4820, EGU General Assembly (Austria) (April 2024)
[14] S. K. Mondal, S.-I. An, S.-K. Min, T. Jiang, B. Su, S. Paik, S.-K. Kim. Global dryness could intensify vegetation failure even after net-negative emission is achieved, EGU24-4814, EGU General Assembly (Austria) (April 2024)
[13] S. Paik, S.-I. An, S.-K. Min, A. D. King, S.-K. Kim. Constraining Global to Continental Future Extreme Precipitation Intensification, AS51-A002, AOGS Annual Meeting (Singapore) (August 2023)
[12] S.-I. An, H.-J. Kim, S.-K. Kim*. Rate-dependent Hysteresis of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, AS21-A003, AOGS Annual Meeting (Singapore) (August 2023)
[11] S. K. Mondal, S.-I. An, S.-K. Min, S.-K. Kim, J. Shin, S. Paik, N. Im, C. Liu. Hysteresis and Irreversibility of Global Extreme Precipitation to Anthropogenic CO2 Emission, AS21-A002, AOGS Annual Meeting (Singapore) (August 2023)
[10] C. Liu, S.-I. An, F.-F. Jin, J. Shin, J.-S. Kug, W. Zhang, M. F. Stuecker, X. Yuan, A. Xue, X. Geng, S.-K. Kim. Hysteresis of the El Niño-southern Oscillation Characteristics to CO2 Forcing Linked to the ITCZ, AS21-A001, AOGS Annual Meeting (Singapore) (August 2023)
[9] 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, EGU23-1664, EGU General Assembly (Austria) (April 2023)
[8] S.-I. An, H.-J. Park, S.-K. Kim, J. Shin, S.-W. Yeh, J.-S. Jug. Intensity Change of Indian Ocean Dipole Mode Under Global Warming, AS47-A012, AOGS Annual Meeting (Online) (August 2022)
[7] H.-J. Kim, S.-I. An, S.-K. Kim, J.-H. Park. Feedback Processes Modulating the Sensitivity of Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation to Freshwater Forcing Timescales, AS47-A004, AOGS Annual Meeting (Online) (August 2022)
[6] 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, AS47-A002, AOGS Annual Meeting (Online) (August 2022)
[5] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. The Origin of ENSO Phase Locking: Seasonal Gap Theory, OS015-0006, AGU Fall Meeting (Online) (December 2020)
[4] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. Understanding El Niño-La Niña Asymmetries Using a Nonlinear Recharge Oscillator Model, AS05-A022, AOGS Annual Meeting (Online) (July 2020)
[3] S.-I. An, S.-K. Kim. Inter-decadal Change of El Nino-La Nina Amplitude Asymmetry Evaluated by Nonlinear Dynamical ENSO Index, OS53C-1537, AGU Fall Meeting (USA) (December 2019)
[2] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. Assessing ENSO characteristics in CMIP using nonlinear recharge oscillator, GC33I-1467, AGU Fall Meeting (USA) (December 2018)
[1] S.-I. An, S.-K. Kim*. Nonlinear Recharge Oscillator, GC33I-1466, AGU Fall Meeting (USA) (December 2018)
Domestic (South Korea)
[3] C. Liu, S.-I. An, F.-F. Jin, J. Shin, J.-S. Kug, W. Zhang, M. F. Stuecker, X. Yuan, A. Xue, X. Geng, S.-K. Kim, Hysteresis of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation to CO2 forcing, KMS Spring Meeting (South Korea) (April 2023)
[2] R. Olson, Y. Fan, S.-I. An, S.-K. Kim. A Flexible Data-Driven Cyclostationary Model for the El Niño Southern–Oscillation, KMS Spring Meeting (South Korea) (April 2022)
[1] S.-K. Kim*, S.-I. An. A New Conceptual Model for ENSO: Nonlinear Recharge Oscillator, KMS Fall Meeting (South Korea) (October 2018)
Mandatory Military Service
Fulfilled mandatory military duty as a technical research personnel (3-year service)
March 2023 – February 2025: Technical research personnel hosted by the Institute of Natural Sciences at Yonsei University
March 2022 – February 2023: Technical research personnel hosted by the Graduate School of Yonsei University