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Christine Kaufhold

Since May 2022, Christine has been working as a doctoral researcher in the group Long-Term Trajectories (LTT). Her research focuses on the long-term impact of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions on Earth’s climate and the trajectory of the Anthropocene. In particular, she investigates how human activities may influence the timing of future glacial inceptions over the next 100,000 to one million years, and what this means for nuclear waste storage solutions. Her work examines climate-carbon cycle feedbacks, the persistence of elevated greenhouse gas concentrations, and their implications for Earth’s long-term stability. In addition to glacial-interglacial work, she also examines the legacy of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions on future coastlines and regional sea level rise, as well as the potential for strongly positive climate-carbon cycle feedbacks, contributing to a deeper understanding of the Earth’s possible trajectories far beyond the coming centuries.

Department

Earth System Analysis

Working Group

Long-Term Trajectories

Contact

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

kaufhold[at]pik-potsdam.de

P.O. Box 60 12 03
14412 Potsdam

ORCID

0009-0001-1772-9039

Christine Kaufhold studied Physics at the University of Waterloo, Canada with an emphasis on numerical modelling and environmental systems (e.g., oceanography, geosciences). After completing an internship regarding particle tracking for contaminant transport in the Department of Stochastic Simulation and Safety Research for Hydrosystems at Universität Stuttgart, she went on to finish her MSc. in Ocean and Climate Physics at Universität Hamburg. Her master's thesis was focused on characterizing regimes of weather forecasting uncertainty via explainable AI methods.

2025:

Kaufhold, C., Willeit, M., Munhoven, G., Klemann, V., and Ganopolski, A.: Timing of a future glaciation in view of anthropogenic climate change, Comms. Env., accepted.

Willeit, M., Ganopolski, A., Kaufhold, C., Dalmonech, D., Liu, B., and Ilyina, T.: Earth system response to Heinrich events explained by a bipolar convection seesaw, Nat. Geosci., https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-025-01814-0, 2025.

Kaufhold, C., Willeit, M., Liu, B., and Ganopolski, A.: Assessing the lifetime of anthropogenic CO₂ and its sensitivity to different carbon cycle processes, Biogeosciences, 22, 2767–2801, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2767-2025, 2025.

Kaufhold, C., Willeit, M., Talento, S., Ganopolski, A., and Rockström, J.: Interplay between climate and carbon cycle feedbacks could substantially enhance future warming, Environ. Res. Lett., 20, 044027, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adb6be, 2025.

REDUKLIM: Reduction of emission scenario uncertainty through climate modelling

Teaching assistant for the Ocean Dynamics course at the University of Potsdam in 2023, 2024

Scheduled:

TBD

Past:

Kaufhold, C., Willeit, M. and Ganopolski, A.
Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), Incheon, South Korea
Current status of climate-related modelling for high-level radioactive waste disposal in Germany (invited)

Kaufhold, C., Willeit, M. and Ganopolski, A.
30th International Symposium on Polar Sciences (ISPS) 2025
20th Workshop on Antarctic Meteorology and Climate (WAMC) 2025, Incheon, South Korea
Impact of Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheet melting on sea level, regional climate, and future coastlines

Kaufhold, C., Willeit, M., Munhoven, G., Klemann, V. and Ganopolski, A.
EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria
Magnitude of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions and pre-industrial carbon cycle state as key factors which determine timing of the next glacial period

Kaufhold, C., Willeit, M., and Ganopolski, A.
Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM), University of Bremen
Ocean Floor Symposium 2024, Bremen, Germany
Impact of anthropogenic CO₂ on the next glacial inception (invited)

Kaufhold, C., Willeit, M., Talento, S. and Ganopolski, A.
EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria
Uncertainties in climate sensitivity and residual carbon emissions permit for a hothouse climate ahead

Kaufhold, C. and Ganopolski, A.
safeND Interdisciplinary Research Symposium 2023, Berlin, Germany
Deep-future climate change scenarios for site selection of nuclear waste disposal in Germany

Kaufhold, C. and Ganopolski, A.
Tage der Standortauswahl 2022, Aachen, Germany
A set of long-term future climate change scenarios for Germany