Simon Fraser University
REM


Karen Kohfeld

Assistant Professor • Canada Research Chair (II) in Climate, Resource, and Global Change
Climate, Oceans, and Paleo-Environments (COPE)
B.Sc. (Geology/Biology, Brown University)
M.A. and M.Phil. (Geology, Columbia University)
Ph.D. (Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University)

Dr. Kohfeld is interested in understanding natural variability and biogeochemical linkages within the ocean and climate system, in order to better assess earth system responses to anthropogenic perturbations. Her research focuses on natural and anthropogenic changes in the ocean carbon cycle, the influence of climate and land surface conditions on atmospheric dust, and assessing and adapting to extreme weather conditions in British Columbia.

Projects related to this research have involved:

  • Changes in physical and biological ocean conditions over the last 140,000 years
  • Modeling the fate of anthropogenic CO2 that is injected in the deep ocean
  • Frequency, intensity, and impacts of extreme weather events in British Columbia
  • Climate-induced changes in extreme winds and their effects on the Dust Bowl
  • Air quality impacts of climate change in the Lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia
  • Changes in marine productivity in the North Pacific Ocean over the last 140,000 years

Many of these projects involve the development of environmental databases, computational data mining, analysis and manipulation of existing data, and collaboration with geologists, marine biologists, sedimentologists, geochemists, and ocean, atmosphere, and biogeochemical modelers.

Example publications include:

  • Kohfeld, KE and A. Ridgwell, Glacial-interglacial variability in atmospheric CO2, In: C. Le Quéré (eds) and Saltzman, E., Surface Ocean/Lower Atmosphere Processes, Geophysical Monograph Series 37, Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, 2009.
  • Kohfeld, KE and I Tegen, The record of mineral aerosols and their role in the earth system, Treatise on Geochemistry, eds., R. Keeling and K. Turekian, in press, 2006.
  • Ridgwell, A, and KE Kohfeld, Dust in the earth system: the biogeochemical linking of land, air and sea, in: Advances in Science, eds. P. Sammonds and M. Thompson, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Imperial College Press, in press, 2006.
  • Kohfeld, KE, RL Reynolds, J Pelletier, and B Nickling, Linking the scales of process, observation and modeling of dust emissions, EOS 86(11): 113, 2005.
  • Kohfeld, KE, C Le Quéré, R.F. Anderson and S.P. Harrison, Role of marine biology in glacial-interglacial CO2 cycles, Science, 308 (5718): 74-78, 2005.
  • Tegen, I., M. Werner, SP Harrison, KE Kohfeld, Small anthropogenic contribution to soil dust aerosol emission, Geophysical Research Letters, 31: L05105, doi: 10.1029/2003GL019216, 2004.
  • Bopp, L, KE Kohfeld, C Le Quéré, O Aumont, Dust impact on marine biota and atmospheric CO2 during glacial periods, Paleoceanography, 18, 10.1029/2002PA000810, 2003.
  • Engelstaedter, S, KE Kohfeld, I Tegen, S. P. Harrison, Controls of dust emissions by vegetation and geomorphic setting: an evaluation using dust storm frequency data, Geophysical Research Letters, 30(6): 10.1029/2002GL016471, 2003.
  • Kohfeld, KE, and SP Harrison, DIRTMAP: The geological record of dust, Earth Science Reviews, 54 (1-3): 81-114, 2001.
  • Kohfeld, KE and SP Harrison, How well can we simulate past climates? Evaluating earth system models using global palaeoenvironmental datasets, Quaternary Science Reviews, 19(1-5): 321-346, 2000.

Dr. Kohfeld teaches Earth Systems and Global Change in Environmental Management (REM 631) (The REM course formerly known as River Basin Analysis, Planning, and Management), and Global Change (REM 100).