Biography
Research Interests
I am a climate scientist working to better understand past and future changes in climate. To understand past changes in climate, I work with satellite records dating back to the late 1970s to measure how much the Earth's atmosphere has warmed. I also work with climate models to predict future changes in climate. While I am largely focused on the physical climate system and understanding the Earth's sensitivity to greenhouse gases, I am also interested in understanding the effects of climate change on food security and human health.
Appointments
- Research Scientist, PCMDI | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2020 - present
- Postdoctoral Fellow, PCMDI | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2017 - 2020
- Graduate Fellow, Department of Atmospheric Sciences | University of Washington, Seattle, 2014 - 2016
- Medical Informatics Officer, Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo / Partners In Health, Malawi, 2013 - 2014
- Graduate Fellow, Department of Atmospheric Sciences | University of Washington, 2009 - 2013
- Minerva Fellow, Engeye Health, Uganda, 2008 - 2009
Education
- Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2016
- M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2013
- B.S. in Physics, Union College, Schenectady, NY, 2008
Publications
2026 6 publications
- Po-Chedley, S., C. A. Mears, C.-Z. Zou, R. Junod, and L. Haimberger, 2026: "Tropospheric Temperature" [in "State of the Climate in 2025"], Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 107 (8), S37 - S38, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-26-0141.1.
- Gale, S., Q. Fu, H. Wang, E. Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, M. Wang, A. Gilbert, A. Sweeney, and S. Po-Chedley, 2026: "Why April Stands Out: Monthly Impacts of Internal Variability on Arctic Amplification," J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., in press, doi: 10.1029/2026JD047413.
- Thackeray, C. W., J. Norris, A. Hall, M. D. Zelinka, and S. Po-Chedley, 2026: "Record-setting heavy precipitation occurrence in 2024," Sci. Adv., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aeb1692.
- Zhang, J., J.-C. Golaz, M. V. Signorotti, H.-H. Lee, P. Bogenschutz, M. Monteagudo, P. A. Ullrich, R. S. Arthur, S. Po-Chedley, P. Cameron-Smith, and J.-P. Watson, 2026: "Simulation of wind and solar energy generation over California with E3SM SCREAM regionally refined models at 3.25 km and 800 m resolutions," Geosci. Model Dev., 19, 4513, doi: 10.5194/gmd-19-4513-2026.
- Zelinka, M. D., T. A. Myers, Y. Qin, L.-W. Chao, S. A. Klein, S. Po-Chedley, P.-L. Ma, C. J. Wall, P. Ceppi, and A. Gettelman, 2026: "Recent cloud trends and extremes reaffirm established bounds on cloud feedback and aerosol-cloud interactions," Commun. Earth Environ., doi: 10.1038/s43247-026-03461-8.
- Wills, R. C. J., C. Deser, K. A. McKinnon, A. Phillips, S. Po-Chedley, S. Sippel, et al., 2026: "Forced Component Estimation Statistical Method Intercomparison Project (ForceSMIP)," J. Climate, 39 (8), 1927 - 1953, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-25-0326.1.
2025 3 publications
- Po-Chedley, S., J. R. Christy, C.-Z. Zou, C. A. Mears, and L. Haimberger (2025): “Tropospheric Temperature [in ‘State of the Climate in 2024’]”, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 106 (8), S39 - S40, 10.1175/2025BAMSStateoftheClimate.1.
- Simpson, I.R, T.A. Shaw, P. Ceppi, A.C. Clement, E. Fischer, K.M. Grise, A.G. Pendergrass, J.A. Screen, R.C.J. Wills, T. Woolings, R. Blackport, J.M. Kang, and S. Po-Chedley (2025): Confronting Earth System Model trends with observations: A new era in simulating and predicting climate, Sci. Adv., 11, eadt8035, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adt8035.
- Sweeney, A., Q. Fu, S. Solomon, S. Po-Chedley, W. J. Randel, A. Steiner, et al. (2025). Recent warming of the southern Hemisphere subtropical lower stratosphere and Antarctic ozone healing. AGU Advances, 6, e2025AV001737, 10.1029/2025AV001737.
2024 5 publications
- Thackeray, C. W., Zelinka, M. D., Norris, J., Hall, A., & Po-Chedley, S. (2024). Relationship between tropical cloud feedback and climatological bias in clouds. Geophysical Research Letters, 51, doi: 10.1029/2024GL111347
- Po-Chedley, S, J. R. Christy, L. Haimberger, C. A. Mears, C.-Z. Zou, 2024: Tropospheric Temperature [in “State of the Climate in 2023”], Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 105(8), S39 - S41, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0116.1.
- Vo, T., S. Po-Chedley, J. Boutte, J. Lee, and C. Zhang, 2024: "xCDAT: A Python Package for Simple and Robust Analysis of Climate Data," Journal of Open Source Software, 9(98) 6426, doi: doi: 10.21105/joss.06426.
- Sweeney, A. J., Q. Fu, S. Po-Chedley, H. Wang, and M. Wang, 2024: "Unique Global Temperature Trend Pattern Associated with Internally Driven Arctic Warming and Global Cooling during 1980-2022," Geophysical Research Letters, 51, e2024GL108798, doi: 10.1029/2024GL108798.
- Armour, K. C., C. Proistosescu, Y. Dong, L. C. Hahn, E. Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, A. G. Pauling, R. C. Jnglin Wills, T. Andrews, M. F. Stuecker, S. Po-Chedley, I. Mitevski, P. M. Forster, J. M. Gregory, 2024: "Sea-surface temperature pattern effects have slowed global warming and biased warming-based constraints on climate sensitivity," Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 121 (12), e2312093121, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2312093121.
2023 3 publications
- Sweeney, A. J., Q. Fu, S. Po-Chedley, H. Wang, and M. Wang, 2023: "Internal variability increased Arctic amplification during 1980–2022," Geophysical Research Letters, 50, e2023GL106060, doi: 10.1029/2023GL106060.
- Santer, B. D., S. Po-Chedley, L. Zhao, C.-Z. Zou, Q. Fu, S. Solomon, D. W. J. Thompson, C. A. Mears, and K. E. Taylor, 2023: "Exceptional Stratospheric Contribution To Human Fingerprints On Atmospheric Temperature," Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 120 (20), 1-11, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2300758120.
- Po-Chedley, S, J. R. Christy, C.-Z. Zou, C. A. Mears, L. Haimberger, 2023: "Global Climate: Tropospheric Temperature" [in "State of the Climate in 2022"], Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 104 (9), S36–S38, doi: 10.1175/2023BAMSStateoftheClimate_Intro.1.
2022 2 publications
- Po-Chedley, S., J.T. Fasullo, N. Siler, Z.M. Labe, E.A. Barnes, C.J.W. Bonfils, B.D. Santer (2022): "Internal variability and forcing influence model-satellite differences in the rate of tropical tropospheric warming," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (48) e2209431119, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2209431119.
- Santer, B. D., S. Po-Chedley, N. Feldl, J.C. Fyfe, Q. Fu, S. Solomon, M. England, K.B. Rodgers, M.F. Stuecker, C. Mears, C. Zou, C.J.W. Bonfils, G. Pallotta, M.D. Zelinka, N. Rosenbloom, J. Edwards, (2022): "Robust Anthropogenic Signal Identified in the Seasonal Cycle of Tropospheric Temperature," J. Clim., 35(18), 6075-6100, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0766.1.
2021 2 publications
- Po-Chedley, S., B. D. Santer, S. Fueglistaler, M. D. Zelinka, P. J. Cameron-Smith, J. F. Painter, Q. Fu, 2021: "Natural variability contributes to model-satellite differences in tropical tropospheric warming," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (13) e2020962118; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2020962118.
- Santer, B. D., S. Po-Chedley, C. A. Mears, et al., 2021: "Using Climate Model Simulations to Constrain Observations," Journal of Climate, J. Clim., 34, 6281 – 6301, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0768.1.
2020 3 publications
- Feldl, N., S. Po-Chedley, H. Singh, S. Hay, and P. Kushner, 2020: "Sea ice and atmospheric circulation shape the high-latitude lapse rate feedback," npj Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, in press.
- Rieger, L. A., J. N. S. Cole, J. C. Fyfe, S. Po-Chedley, P. J. Cameron-Smith, P. J. Durack, N. P. Gillett, and Q. Tang, 2020: "Quantifying CanESM5 and EAMv1 sensitivities to volcanic forcingfor the CMIP6 historical experiment," Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., doi: 10.5194/gmd-13-4831-2020.
- Zelinka, M. D., Myers, T. A., McCoy, D. T., Po-Chedley, S., Caldwell, P. M., Ceppi, P., et al, 2020: "Causes of higher climate sensitivity in CMIP6 models," Geophys. Res. Lett., 47, e2019GL085782, doi: 10.1029/2019GL085782. [EOS]
2019 2 publications
- Santer, B. D., and Coauthors, 2019: Celebrating the anniversary of three key events in climate change science. Nature Climate Change, 9 (3), 180–182, doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0424-x.
- Siler, N., C. Proistosescu, and S. Po-Chedley, 2019: Natural Variability Has Slowed the Decline in Western U.S. Snowpack Since the 1980s. Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (1), 346–355, doi:10.1029/2018GL081080.
2018 6 publications
- Po-Chedley, S., C. Proistosescu, K. C. Armour, and B. D. Santer, 2018: Climate constraint reflects forced signal. Nature, 563 (7729), E6–E9, doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0640-y.
- Christy, J. R., C. A. Mears, and S. Po-Chedley, 2018: Global Climate: Tropospheric Temperature [in “State of the Climate in 2017”]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 99 (8), S16 – S18.
Santer, B. D., and Coauthors, 2018: Human influence on the seasonal cycle of tropospheric temperature. Science, 361 (6399), eaas8806, doi:10.1126/science.aas8806.
Ding, Q., and Coauthors, 2018: Fingerprints of internal drivers of Arctic sea ice loss in observations and model simulations. Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/s41561-018-0256-8.
- Siler, N., S. Po-Chedley, and C. S. Bretherton, 2018: Variability in modeled cloud feedback tied to differences in the climatological spatial pattern of clouds. Climate Dynamics, 50 (3-4), 1209–1220, doi:10.1007/s00382-017-3673-2.
- Po-Chedley, S., K. Armour, C. Bitz, M. Zelinka, and B. Santer, 2018: Sources of intermodel spread in the lapse rate and water vapor feedbacks. Journal of Climate, 31 (8), doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0674.1.
2017 5 publications
- Bilinski, A., and Coauthors, 2017: Distance to care, enrollment and loss to follow-up of HIV patients during decentralization of antiretroviral therapy in Neno District, Malawi: A retrospective cohort study. PLOS ONE, 12 (10), e0185 699, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0185699.
- Santer, B., S. Solomon, F. Wentz, Q. Fu, S. Po-Chedley, C. Mears, J. Painter, and C. Bonfils, 2017: Tropospheric Warming over the Past Two Decades. Scientific Reports, 7 (1), doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02520-7.
Santer, B., and Coauthors, 2017: Causes of differences in model and satellite tropospheric warming rates. Nature Geoscience, 10 (7), doi: 10.1038/ngeo2973.
Ding, Q., and Coauthors, 2017: Influence of high-latitude atmospheric circulation changes on summertime Arctic sea ice. Nature Climate Change, 7 (4), doi:10.1038/nclimate3241.
Santer, B. D., and Coauthors, 2017: Comparing Tropospheric Warming in Climate Models and Satellite Data. Journal of Climate, 30 (1), 373–392, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0333.1.
2015 1 publication
- Po-Chedley, S., T. J. Thorsen, and Q. Fu, 2015: Removing Diurnal Cycle Contamination in Satellite-Derived Tropospheric Temperatures: Understanding Tropical Tropospheric Trend Discrepancies. Journal of Climate, 28 (6), 2274–2290, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00767.1.
2014 1 publication
- Flannaghan, T. J., S. Fueglistaler, I. M. Held, S. Po-Chedley, B. Wyman, and M. Zhao, 2014: Tropical Temperature Trends in AMIP Simulations and the Impact of SST Uncertainties. Journal of Geophysical Research — Atmospheres, 119, doi:10.1002/2014JD022365.
2013 1 publication
- Po-Chedley, S., and Q. Fu, 2013: Reply to ”Comments on ’A Bias in the Midtropospheric Channel Warm Target Factor on the NOAA-9 Microwave Sounding Unit”’ Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 30 (5), doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-12-00131.1.
2012 2 publications
- Po-Chedley, S., and Q. Fu, 2012: A Bias in the Midtropospheric Channel Warm Target Factor on the NOAA-9 Microwave Sounding Unit. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 29 (5), doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-11-00147.1.
- Po-Chedley, S., and Q. Fu, 2012: Discrepancies in tropical upper tropospheric warming between atmospheric circulation models and satellites. Environmental Research Letters, 7, 044 018, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044018.
2007 1 publication
- Po-Chedley, S., B. Cohen, and M. Hagerman, 2007: Fast, ultrasensitive virus detection using a young interferometer sensor. Chemtracts, 19 (9), 350 - 357.
Other 2 publications
- Po-Chedley, S., M. Singh, Q. Fu, A. J. Sweeney, S.-P. Ho, W. J. Randel, A. K. Steiner, B. D. Santer, N. P. Gillett, V. Sofieva, L. Polvani, A. Maycock, F. Ladstädter, M. Stocker, and H. Gleisner, "Atmospheric Temperature Change: Current Understanding and Future Research Priorities," submitted.
- Monteagudo, M., S. Po-Chedley, J.-P. Watson, "A Skillful, Hourly Temperature-Based Electricity Demand Model for Climate-Informed Capacity Expansion in California," submitted.
Awards
Deputy Director Science & Technology Excellence in Publication, 2024
Deputy Director Science & Technology Excellence in Publication, 2023
CLIVAR CDP Early Career Best Poster Award, 2022
AGU Excellence in Reviewing – Geophysical Research Letters, 2021
Lawrence Postdoctoral Fellowship, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2017 - 2020
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow, 2020
CFMIP Early Career Scientist Award, 2019
National Science Foundation Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2017
National Science Foundation IGERT Trainee in Ocean Change, University of Washington, 2014 - 2016
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, University of Washington, 2010 - 2013
Minerva Fellow, Union College, 2008 - 2009
Frank Bailey Prize for “the Senior who has rendered the greatest service to the college,” Union College, 2008
Meritorious Service Award for "service beyond the normal requirement of duty," Union College, 2008
Udall Scholar, Udall Foundation, 2006
New York State Regents Scholar and Union College Presidential Scholar, 2004


