Biography

Dr. Jeremy Rugenstein is interested in understanding long-term controls on the Earth’s climate and hydrological cycle, particularly over the Cenozoic. During this interval, the Earth underwent a fundamental shift in its climate, transitioning from the hot, high-CO2 climate that characterized the Cretaceous and Eocene to the relatively cool, low-CO2 climate of today. Understanding this transition can elucidate first-order controls on Earth’s climate as well as improve understanding of what our future climate may resemble given current projections of CO2 emissions. Particularly given uncertainty regarding the future of water resources in the western US and mid-latitudes more generally, the geologic past provides an opportunity to probe how the hydrological cycle changes in higher a CO2 world.