People

B. B. CaelAssistant Professor

Research Focus:
climate, biogeochemistry
Email:
bbcael@uchicago.edu
Office:
Hinds 529

Research Interests

I am interested in the Earth’s climate system, biogeochemical cycles, and their relationship to humanity. Much of my research pairs elementary models with statistical analyses of observational products. Prior to moving to the University of Chicago, my research followed three distinct threads:

1. Plankton, their influence on the ocean carbon cycle, and the optical measurements used to study them – I have been interested in questions such as: How can we best utilize the information provided by optical sensors and satellites to characterize plankton ecosystems and changes in these ecosystems? How do we determine the basic controls on organic carbon fluxes in the ocean from sparse and variable measurements? (See also CV 2-4, 8-12, 14-17, 20-29, 31, 33, 35, 37-39, 41, 44, 48, 53, 57, 59, 61, 64, 65, 68, 70-73) At UChicago, I continue to pursue this research thread via numerous projects. Colleagues and I continue to investigate the controls on the biological pump, the impact of variability on the biological pump, the relationship between the biological pump and climate, how to improve ocean ecosystem models, how best to utilize satellite observations of plankton ecosystems, and how to disentangle community variations or interactions from fine-scale observations. 

2. Fractal geometry of geographical features – I have been interested in questions such as: Can the fractal geometric scalings of lakes, Arctic melt ponds, and other natural systems be explained from first principles or by the self-affinity of Earth’s topography? Do these relationships explain other scaling relationships in these systems? (See also CV 1, 5, 6, 13, 32, 36, 42, 43, 45, 49, 54, 55, 60, 67) At UChicago, I continue to pursue this research thread with collaborators in the Statistics department; we are investigating the scaling behavior of Earth’s islands.

3. Global climate and ocean dynamics – I have been interested in questions such as: Can we estimate climate feedbacks or changes thereof from observations? How does salinity affect the ocean’s overturning circulation? Why is there such a heavy tail in measurements of ocean turbulence? (See also CV 7, 18, 19, 30, 34, 40, 46, 50-52, 58, 63, 74) I am not currently working on any projects in this area at UChicago, though I still very much remain interested in it.

Since joining the University of Chicago in January 2025, I have initiated or expanded four new research threads

4. Carbon dioxide removal – I am interested in questions such as: what determines the efficiency of ocean alkalinity enhancement or enhanced rock weathering? How well can these carbon dioxide removal methods be measured? How might marine carbon dioxide removal methods harm or benefit marine ecosystems? How should carbon credits be regulated and governed? Colleagues and I are currently spinning up numerous projects in this area. (See also CV 46, 62)

5. Paleoclimate – I am interested in questions such as: did the relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide and surface temperature vary over Earth’s history? How well can we constrain the main feedbacks governing the dynamics of Earth’s climate and carbon cycle? How well can we utilize Earth’s past to predict its future? (See also CV 56, 69) Colleagues and I are currently working on several projects in this area, primarily focused on estimating weathering and other carbon cycle feedbacks.

6. Climate impacts by extreme events – I am interested in questions such as: How well do climate models reproduce observations of extreme temperatures? How well do wildfire models reproduce observations of burned areas? How well can we identify trends in the deadliness or damage of climate hazards in the presence of tremendous variability? (See also CV 66) Colleagues and I are currently working on several projects in this area, primarily focused on heatwaves, wildfires, mortality, and economic damages. 

7. Stratospheric aerosol injection – I am interested in questions such as: How bad might the harmful impacts of stratospheric aerosol injections be, and how can we constrain these quantitatively? What policies might mitigate these harms? How might the possibility of such harms affect the evolution of a stratospheric aerosol injection deployment? Colleagues and I are currently spinning up several projects in this area.  

This academic year I will be teaching two courses as part of UChicago’s new Climate and Sustainable Growth major: The Science of Climate Change (co-taught with Noboru Nakamura), and Removing Carbon Dioxide from the Atmosphere (co-taught with David Archer). I also chair the CSEminar and am an associate editor at Geophysical Research Letters. 

Selected Publications