Benjamin Cook
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Benjamin Cook
@dustybowl.bsky.social

Climate scientist studying drought, land surface processes, climate extremes. https://www.drbenjamincook.net/

Benjamin I. Cook is an American climatologist with a number of publications to his name. Along with the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, for instance, he used paleorecords to reconstruct land cover in Mexico’s Yucatán and other Central American regions. .. more

Environmental science 57%
Geography 18%
A Dry, Warm January Leaves the West With the Worst Snowpack in Decades
www.drought.gov/drought-stat...
Given the latest NOAA CBRFC inflow forecast for Lake Powell, I dusted off this plot from my Twitter days and updated it.

The Feb 1st outlook for Colorado River flows hasn't been this poor in >35 years. Even if wetter weather ahead, bottom-10 outcome likely.

h/t @glenwoodrek.bsky.social
We're hiring a full-time technician to support radiocarbon analyses. If you have some experience with analytical instruments and background in chemistry, earth sciences, archaeology, and/or ecology, this could be the job for you! arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Research Technician III, Tree Ring Laboratory
Duties and Responsibilities:Assisting with the meticulous preparation of samples for radiocarbon analysis following established protocols. This includ...
arizona.csod.com
We are advertising for a Lecturer in Physical Oceanography, closing date 31 March.

If you have research interests in the shelf seas, estuarine and coastal oceans then this could be for you!

And you could do research using UEA's fleet of ocean gliders

vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/20...
Lecturer in Physical Oceanography (ATR1734) in University of East Anglia | UEA
View details and apply for this Lecturer in Physical Oceanography (ATR1734) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Science School of Environmental Sciences Lecturer in Physical Oceano...
vacancies.uea.ac.uk
LOOKING FOR A NEW ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITY?

Regius Professorship in Meteorology & Climate Science - a role awarded to the University of Reading by Queen Elizabeth II

Seeking an exceptional academic leader who will shape the future of meteorology & climate science.

jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Regius Professorship in Meteorology and Climate Science:Whiteknights Reading UK
Interview date: from 23rd March 2026 onwards
jobs.reading.ac.uk

You use data from ESA instead of NASA because you have more confidence in it.

I use data from ESA instead of NASA because NASA has the worst data sharing infrastruture on the planet.

We are not the same.
Your regular reminder that when folks say "its cold outside where I live, what happened to global warming?" that the world is big, and weather still exists.

If you're going to JpGU, consider submitting to JpGU session A-HW37: Global Drought Stress from Headwaters to Lowlands (24-29 May, Chiba Japan)!

www.jpgu.org/meeting_e202...

www.jpgu.org/meeting_e202...
A-HW37
www.jpgu.org
While Australian heatwaves were some of the very first extreme events attributed to climate change, people still underestimate how much worse they got - killing more people than all other natural hazards combined. New @wwattribution.bsky.social study. www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-chan...

shawn when will the polar vortex hit my apartment in the east village

Reposted by Benjamin I. Cook

Each summer the JPL Center for Climate Sciences brings in ~25 grad students & postdocs to engage with premier climate scientists, focusing on "Using Satellite Observations to Advance Climate Models." Applications for July 2026 now being accepted.

climatesciences.jpl.nasa.gov/events/summe...
Most 2025 global temperatures are now out (degrees C above 1850-1900 baseline)

1.41 HadCRUT5
1.44 Berkeley
1.46 JRA-3Q
1.47 Copernicus
1.53 DCENT-I

NOAA and NASA GISS values will be public at 2pm UK time and but based on already public Jan-Nov data they will likely be between 1.3 and 1.4 degC.

Reposted by Benjamin I. Cook

Paleolatitude.org 3.0 is online!

At what latitude was your backyard in the time of the dinosaurs? The answer is a simple mouse click away, and now also if your backyard lies one of the world's big mountain ranges!
Paleolatitude
Paleolatitude.org

Reposted by Benjamin I. Cook

Updated time series of daily year-round North American weather regimes for 1 Jan 1979 to 31 Dec 2025 just published on Zenodo: doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

I plan to keep this dataset updated annually. Happy regime-ing!
Nominations for @agu.org AGU awards are now being accepted!

Please nominate a deserving colleague. Many qualified people do not win awards because no one nominates them. Also, for many AGU awards, you can self-nominate.

www.agu.org/honors

Reposted by Benjamin I. Cook

Nullschool weather app for mobile phones...!
I'm excited to announce the official Nullschool app is here!

earth.nullschool.net on mobile browsers works fine, but the app is nicer. Full screen display, persistence across sessions, text size that matches device settings. Even landscape works well.

And, like the website: no ads!

Links below ⬇️

Reposted by Benjamin I. Cook

This is so important, and don’t forget that major land use change and deforestation occurred across Europe, Asia, and Africa long before even 1750.
Published today: Importance of beginning industrial-era climate simulations in the eighteenth century

Defining pre-industrial to be 1750, rather than 1850, produces different (simulated) historical climate changes after 1850. Pre-1850 volcanoes & land use matter.

iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Published today: Importance of beginning industrial-era climate simulations in the eighteenth century

Defining pre-industrial to be 1750, rather than 1850, produces different (simulated) historical climate changes after 1850. Pre-1850 volcanoes & land use matter.

iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
The deadline for graduate student applications for paleoCAMP 2026 (Paleoclimate Training in Climate Archives, Models, and Proxies) summer school is this Friday, January 9th! paleoCAMP is completely free for all students selected to attend paleoclimate.camp/apply
Application — paleoCAMP
paleoclimate.camp

Growing up, I went to summer camp every year in <<checks notes>> Whata Bod, Idaho.
Unbelievable. The National Weather Service issued a wind warning supported by a hazard map showing places that **do not exist***.
Wait a minute...why is NWS throwing out genAI generated slop on their socials?

This is a horrible look and doesn't help keep people safe or aware of the forecast.
Unbelievable. The National Weather Service issued a wind warning supported by a hazard map showing places that **do not exist***.
Wait a minute...why is NWS throwing out genAI generated slop on their socials?

This is a horrible look and doesn't help keep people safe or aware of the forecast.
🚨Professorship at St Andrews🚨

We are recruiting a Professor in Earth Sci (incl atmos, oceans, climate) @earthscista.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Ideal candidate is a leading researcher with interests in impact/outreach. Deadline 23/3/26!

www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
Chair in Earth Sciences - AC2672
Chair in Earth Sciences - AC2672, Earth and Environmental Sciences Salary: Grade 9/Negotiable Start Date: September 2026 , <p style="margin-right: 22.7pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: bl...
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk

Reposted by Benjamin I. Cook

Huge congratulations to my friend Piers Forster on being appointed a CBE. We got our PhDs in Meteorology at the University of Reading in the 1990s and have since worked together on many things including IPCC and the Climate Change Committee. He's a truly inspirational scientist and communicator ☺️

Anyone have experience with/knowledge about the maps from this company? e.g.: themaparchive.com/product/the-...

Interested in their paleomaps, but difficulty to to figure out what baseline data they are using.
The Ordovician World 500–440 million years ago
During the Ordovician, there were no landmasses in the northern hemisphere, which was entirely covered by the global ocean of Panthalassa. The southern continents were fused into the supercontinent Go...
themaparchive.com
Paleoclimatologist Jessica Tierney recently published a global temperature record covering almost the past half-billion years. According to her model, 50 million years ago, inland temperatures approached 122 degrees Fahrenheit. www.quantamagazine.org/climate-extr...
Looking for: postdoc on quantitative history of China; postdoc on measuring wildfire fuels with LiDAR; PhDs on modeling fire in the boreal forest and the Pacific Northwest; MSc’s on earth system science; interns in many topics. Check it out!
I've updated the opportunities part of my website with fresh openings for researchers interested in climate and vegetation science, archaeology, history, and geography at all levels from undergraduate intern to postdoc. Take a look! jedokaplan.github.io/opportunities/
Work with me!
jedokaplan.github.io
📣 We seek to appoint a Chair (with rank of professor) within the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences. The successful candidate will be an outstanding scholar of international standing in the field.

🗓 Closing Date: 23 March 2026

Full details: www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
Chair in Earth Sciences - AC2672
Chair in Earth Sciences - AC2672, Earth and Environmental Sciences Salary: Grade 9/Negotiable Start Date: September 2026 , <p style="margin-right: 22.7pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: bl...
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk
I've updated the opportunities part of my website with fresh openings for researchers interested in climate and vegetation science, archaeology, history, and geography at all levels from undergraduate intern to postdoc. Take a look! jedokaplan.github.io/opportunities/
Work with me!
jedokaplan.github.io