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Kate Ricke

Kate Ricke is an assistant professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego and holds a joint appointment with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She is a climate change scientist who integrates tools from the physical and social sciences to analyze climate policy problems. Central to her work is accounting for uncertainty and heterogeneity—both in the effects of climate change and in preferences for how to address them.

Ricke's current research includes topics ranging from the regional climate effects and international relations implications of solar geo-engineering to decadal climate variability’s influence on international climate agreements. She has assessed uncertainty in phenomena, including ocean acidification’s effects on coral reefs and the warming effect from an emission of carbon dioxide today.

Ricke recently served as a research associate in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University and a fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Science. She holds a PhD in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

  • Climate change
  • International climate policy
Coming soon.

Ricke, K. L., J. B. Moreno-Cruz, J. Schewe, A. Levermann, and K. Caldeira. 2016. Policy Thresholds in Mitigation. Nature Geoscience 9:5-6.

Heutel, G., J. B. Moreno-Cruz, and K. L. Ricke. Climate Engineering Economics. 2016. Annual Review of Resource Economics, in press.

Albright, R., J. Hosfelt, L. Kwiatkowski, J. K. Maclaren, B. M. Mason, Y. Nebuchina, A. Ninokawa, J. Pongratz, K. L. Ricke, T. Rivlin, K. Schneider, M. Sesoue, K. Shamberger, J. Silverman, K. Wolfe, and K. Caldeira. 2016. Ocean Acidification Is Already Suppressing Coral Reef Growth. Nature, in press.

Moreno-Cruz, J. B., K. L. Ricke, and G. Wagner. 2015. The Economics or Climate Engineering. In Geoengineering Our Climate (eds. Blackstock, Miller and Rayner)

Kwiatkowski, L., K. L Ricke, and K. Caldeira. 2015. Atmospheric Consequences of Disruption of the Ocean Thermocline. Environmental Research Letters 10:034016.

Ricke, K. L., and K. Caldeira. 2014. Timing and Amount of Maximum Warming from a Carbon Dioxide Emission. Environmental Research Letters 9:124002.

Kravitz, B., D. G. MacMartin, A. Robock, P. J. Rasch, K. L Ricke, J. N. Cole, C. L. Curry, P. J. Irvine, D. Ji, D. W. Keith, J. E. Kristjnsson, J. C. Moore, H. Muri, B. Singh, S. Tilmes, S. Watanabe, S. Yang, and J. H. Yoon. 2014. A Multi-model Assessment of Regional Climate Disparities Caused by Solar Geoengineering. Environmental Research Letters 9:074013.

Ricke, K. L., and K. Caldeira. 2014. Natural Climate Variability and Future Climate Policy. Nature Climate Change 4:333-338.

Caldeira, K., and K. L Ricke. 2013. Prudence on Solar Climate Engineering. Nature Climate Change 3:941.

Ricke, K. L., J. Orr, K. Schneider, and K. Caldeira. 2013. Risks to Coral Reefs from Ocean Carbonate Chemistry Changes in Recent Earth System Model Projections. Environmental Research Letters 8:034003.

Victor, D.G., M. G. Morgan, J. Apt, J. Steinbruner, and K. Ricke. 2013. The Truth about Geoengineering. Foreign Affairs.

Ricke, K.L., J.B. Moreno-Cruz, and K. Caldeira. 2013. Strategic Incentives for Climate Geoengineering Coalitions to Exclude Broad Participation. Environmental Research Letters 8:014021.