Climate Dynamics Group
at Chalmers University of Technology
We study the interactions between different components of the climate system to understand how they give rise to patterns and variations on timescales ranging from days to decades.
On this site you can find more information about our group, what we do, and our output in terms of publications and other related resources. Got a question? Feel free to reach out to us!
About us
We are the Climate Dynamics Group (CDG), led by Hans Chen at the Division of Geoscience and Remote Sensing within the Department of Space, Earth and Environment at Chalmers University of Technology. We are situated in the west coast city of Gothenburg, Sweden.
In our research, we use observations, numerical models, statistical methods, model–data fusion methods such as data assimilation, and machine learning approaches to study the climate system. Our focus is on the atmosphere and its connections with other Earth system components on global to regional scales and diurnal to interdecadal timescales.
Highlighted research topics
Atmospheric circulation
We study the atmospheric circulation and synoptic-scale teleconnections to understand both the atmosphere’s natural internal variability, as well as how climate change has affected and will affect the circulation patterns.
Data assimilation
Data assimilation is a class of methods that seek to optimally combine information from observations and models. We use and develop data assimilation methods, for example to estimate surface carbon fluxes.
Atmospheric rivers
Atmospheric rivers are long and narrow bands of strong water vapor transport in the atmosphere. We study atmospheric rivers with a focus on their occurrence and impact on climate in the northern high-latitudes and Arctic region.
News
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New publication on Arctic warming and wetting
Hans Chen is a co-author on a new paper published in Science Advances. This study applies the emergent constraint method to constrain projected Arctic warming and wetting based on historical global warming trend and climatological Arctic sea ice concentration.
- Cai et al. (2025): Lessened projections of Arctic warming and wetting after correcting for model errors in global warming and sea ice cover
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Article about recent California wildfires
Hans Chen has been interviewed by Källkritikbyrån about the recent wildfires in California and the links to climate change and increasing “hydroclimate whiplash”:
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Recent paper on volcanic eruptions and wind energy featured on the cover of The Innovation
A recent paper co-authored by Hans Chen is featured on the cover of the relatively new open-access journal The Innovation. The paper, led by Cheng Shen, investigates the effect of strong tropical volcanic eruptions on near-surface wind speed globally.
- Shen et al. (2025): A robust reduction in near-surface wind speed after volcanic eruptions: Implications for wind energy generation.
Update 2025-02-06: The Guardian has reported on the study:
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Welcome Hari to the group!
Hari Nair recently joined our group as a postdoc. Hari will primarily work on a project exploring the changing carbon cycle dynamics in the Arctic climate system, financed by the Hasselblad Foundation.
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Wrapping up 2024 with new papers
Happy 2025! We close out 2024 on a high note with some new exciting research:
Machine learning and aerosols:
- Yan et al. (2024): Deep learning with pretrained framework unleashes the power of satellite-based global fine-mode aerosol retrieval.
- Yan et al. (2024): Substantial underestimation of fine-mode aerosol loading from wildfires and its radiative effects in current satellite-based retrievals over the United States.
Carbon cycle and ecosystem dynamics:
- Xu et al. (2024): Global patterns and drivers of post-fire vegetation productivity recovery.
- Li et al. (2024): Increasing sensitivity of tree radial growth to precipitation.
Recent publications
Zhong, Z., H. W. Chen, A. Dai, T. Zhou, B. He, and B. Su, 2025: Sub-diurnal asymmetric warming has amplified atmospheric dryness since the 1980s. Nature Communications, 16, 8247, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63672-z.
Chen, J., H. W. Chen, Z. Li, Q. Wang, G. Wang, K. Jia, X. Yan, 2025: Divergent radiative forcing of fine-mode aerosols across tree genera during wildfires in North America and Europe. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 495, 138881, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.138881.
Liu, Y., Q. Tang, L. R. Leung, D. Chen, J. A. Francis, C. Zhang, H. W. Chen, and S. C. Sherwood, 2025: Changes in atmospheric circulation amplify extreme snowfall fueled by Arctic sea ice loss over high-latitude land. Weather and Climate Extremes, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2025.100802.
Zhong, Z., H. W. Chen, B. He, and B. Su, 2025: Contrasting vegetation productivity responses in arid and humid zones to recent changes in diurnal temperature range. The Innovation Geoscience, 3, 100163, https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2025.100163.
Zou, J., H. W. Chen, H. Li, Q. Wang, G. Wang, K. Jia, Z. Chen, C. Zhao, W. Shi, Y. Yang, Y. Tang, J. Chen, Y. Zhang, T. Xu, Y. Wang, G. Liu, and X. Yan, 2025: Amplified urban heat island effect in southern China’s old towns following atmospheric regulation policies. Sustainable Cities and Society, 131, 106675, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2025.106675.