Sara M. Vallejo-Bernal is a postdoctoral guest researcher in the Complexity Science Research Department of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany. Her research focuses on high-impact weather systems like atmospheric rivers, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), and the Indian summer monsoon. Sara employs an Earth system science approach to reveal the dynamics of these weather systems, their interactions within the climate system, and their relation to natural hazards. She is one of the developers of the PIKART catalog of atmospheric rivers (ar.pik-potsdam.de). Sara received her PhD in Geoscience from the University of Potsdam in July 2025 after completing her doctoral research at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). She also holds master’s degree in applied mathematics and a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, both from the National University of Colombia.
Contact
14412 Potsdam
ORCID
Institute for Earth System Science and Remote Sensing, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Education
- July 2025: Dr. rer. nat. in Geosciences. University of Potsdam, Institute of Geosciences. Dissertation: Atmospheric rivers — A complexity science approach to understanding their dynamics and impacts. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kurths and Prof. Dr. Norbert Marwan.
- September 2020: Master of Science's Degree in Applied Mathematics. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín. Master Thesis: A conceptual stochastic rainfall-runoff model of an order-one catchment under a stationary precipitation regime. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Jorge M. Ramírez and Prof. Dr. Germán Poveda.
- August 2016: Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín.
Research Interests
- Extreme and compound events
- Land-atmosphere interactions
- Tropical climatology
- Natural hazards
- Complex system science
- Nonlinear dynamics
- Probabilistic attribution
- Applied mathematics
Please visit my google scholar profile for a full list of publications.
- ClimXtreme (A Research Network on Climate Change and Extreme Events)
- VACEA (Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Extremes in the Americas)
- Nonlinear Data Analysis Concepts (University of Potsdam, Institute of Geosciences, GEW-DAP02 )
- Differential Calculus (National University of Colombia, Science Faculty)
- Since 2023: Reviewer in Chaos
- Since 2024: Reviewer in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
- Since 2025: Reviewer in Communications Earth & Environment
- Since 2025: Associate Editor in Atmospheric Science Letters
