Chengfei He

Climate Modeling and Dynamics, Data Science, Paleoclimate

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Somewhere on California State Route 1, USA

I’m a climate modeler, data scientist, and keyboard enthusiast with a passion for advancing our comprehension of climate change.

I began my Ph.D. in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. However, due to my advisor’s new faculty appointment, I transferred to The Ohio State University, where I ultimately received my Ph.D. Prior to this, I earned both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Meteorology from the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology in China.

Currently, I am an assistant professor at Northeastern University in Boston. Prior to Northeastern, I did postdocs in the department of physical oceanography at WHOI and RSMAS in the University of Miami.

My research falls broadly under two fundamental questions: (1) What are the causes of past and future changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation and climate variability? (2) How can we quantitatively interpret these changes and their impacts? I use an interdisciplinary research approach that combines a hierarchy of climate models, isotope-enabled modeling, statistical and machine learning techniques, and observations/paleoclimate proxies, aiming toward a better understanding of the physical processes that govern climate dynamics in the past and future.





News

[10/2025] Feiyu attended his first workshop for his PhD at NCAR. Exciting! :sparkles: :smile:
[09/2025] Chengfei presented his latest research to the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Texas at Arlington.
[09/2025] Welcome to Feiyu Huang to CLD!
[01/2025] Chengfei started his new position at Northeastern University.
[11/05/2024] Chengfei recently presented his findings on interhemispheric sea surface temperature bias and Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV) to a research group consisting of members from Princeton University, Rutgers University, University of Miami, and Old Dominion University.
[11/12/2024] Chengfei recently presented his findings on interhemispheric sea surface temperature bias at WHOI.





Selected Publications

Journal Articles

  1. Nature
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    Tropical Atlantic multidecadal variability is dominated by external forcing
    Chengfei He, Amy Clement, Sydney Kramer, Mark Cane, Jeremy Klavans, Tyler Fenske, and Lisa Murphy
    Nature, 2023
    DOI PDF Code
  2. NCC
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    The transient response of atmospheric and oceanic heat transports to anthropogenic warming
    Chengfei He, Zhengyu Liu, and Aixue Hu
    Nature Climate Change, 2019
    DOI
  3. Sci.Adv.
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    Hydroclimate footprint of pan-Asian monsoon water isotope during the last deglaciation
    Chengfei He, Zhenyu Liu, BL Otto-Bliesner, EC Brady, C Zhu, R Tomas, PU Clark, J Zhu, A Jahn, S Gu, and others
    Science Advances, 2021
    DOI
  4. Sci.Adv.
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    Abrupt Heinrich Stadial 1 cooling missing in Greenland oxygen isotopes
    Chengfei He, Zhengyu Liu, Bette L Otto-Bliesner, Esther C Brady, Chenyu Zhu, Robert Tomas, Christo Buizert, and Jeffrey P Severinghaus
    Science Advances, 2021
    DOI
  5. Nat.Commns.
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    Deglacial variability of South China hydroclimate heavily contributed by autumn rainfall
    Chengfei He, Zhengyu Liu, Bette L Otto-Bliesner, Esther C Brady, Chenyu Zhu, Robert Tomas, Sifan Gu, Jing Han, and Yishuai Jin
    Nature communications, 2021
    DOI