Yuntao Bao

Assistant Professor

Email：ytbao@nju.edu.cn

Research Gate

Google scholar

Personal blog

Research Areas

Paleoclimate modeling; Climate dynamics; Earth system science

Research interests include: stable water isotopes interpretations for paleoclimate (ice cores, speleothems) and for cloud, precipitation, and weather processes; vegetation–climate and cryosphere–climate feedbacks; quantitative estimation of climate sensitivity. The group is dedicated to using Earth system models, dynamical methods, and data assimilation/machine learning approaches to investigate the mechanisms and sensitivities of past climate change, with the aim of providing quantitative constraints for future climate projections. Students with backgrounds in atmospheric science, oceanography, physics, computer science, or related fields who are interested in our group are welcome to get in touch.

Work Experience

2026/01–present Tenure-track Assistant Professor, Nanhe College, Nanjing University

2024/01–2025/11 Postdoctoral Researcher, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University

Education

Ph.D., Atmospheric Science, The Ohio State University, USA, 2023

M.S., Climate System and Climate Change, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, 2019

B.S., Atmospheric Science, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, 2016

Awards

E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Award, Ohio State University, 2023

Teaching

Graduate course: “Mathematical and Physical Basis of Atmospheric Sciences”, Nanjing University, NHI

Undergraduate courses: , "Introduction to Earth System Science", Nanjing University, NHI

Summer 2023: GEOG1900: Extreme Weather & Climate, Instructor (lecture & lab), General Education course for undergraduates at The Ohio State University

Academic Service

• Host, Paleoclimatology Group Seminar (online), 2025

• AGU OPSA judge/reviewer; Meeting volunteer, 2023

• Journal reviewer：Nature Communications, Communications Earth & Environment, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Climate, JGR-atmospheres, Climate Dynamics, Quaternary Science Reviews, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, From 2024 to now

  
  

Research Projects

· 2023 – 2026: USA NSF: “Model-Data Approach to Better Understand Paleoclimate Records of Stable Water Isotopes in High-Elevation, Lower-Latitude Glaciers” (Main participant)

· 2020 – 2025: USA NSF: “Collaborative Research: Transient forcing of the Local Last Glacial Maximum in the tropical Peruvian Andes” (participant)

· 2017 – 2021: General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China on “Characteristics of Snow Cover Variability over the Tibetan Plateau and Its Relationship with the Westerly Circulation System” (Main participant)

Representative Publications (First-/Corresponding-Author)

Yuntao Bao*, Zhengyu Liu, Lonnie G. Thompson, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Lingfeng Wan, et al. Climate Simulations and Ice Core Data Highlight the Holocene Conundrum over Tropical Mountains. Communications earth & environment, 2025, 6 (1), 205. (link)

Yuntao Bao*, Zhengyu Liu, Lonnie G. Thompson, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Lingfeng Wan, et al. Model Sensitivity to Insolation Forcing and Uncertainties in Holocene Temperature Simulations. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 2025, 40, e2024PA004958. (link)

Zhengyu Liu*, Yuntao Bao#, Lonnie G. Thompson, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Clay Tabor, et al. Tropical mountain ice core 𝜹¹⁸O: A Goldilocks indicator for global temperature change. Science Advances, 2023, 9 (45), eadi6725. (#Equally contributed) (link)

Yuntao Bao*, Zhengyu Liu, Chengfei He. Dipole response of millennial variability in tropical South American precipitation and δ¹⁸O_p during the last Deglaciation: Part I: rainfall response. Journal of Climate, 2023, 36(14), 4691-4707. (link)

Yuntao Bao*, Zhengyu Liu, Chengfei He. Dipole response of millennial variability in tropical South American precipitation and δ¹⁸O_p during the last Deglaciation: Part II: δ¹⁸O_p response. Journal of Climate, 2023, 36(14), 4709-4721. (link)

Yuntao Bao, Qinglong You*. How do westerly jet streams regulate the winter snow depth over the Tibetan Plateau?. Climate dynamics, 2019, 53(1), 353-370. (link)

Recordings of My Academic Presentations

• "Investigating the origions of model uncertianty in Holocene temperature simulations", International Qusternary Webinars, 2025/09. (Youtube)

• "Simulating ice core d18O evolution and its implications for the Holocene temperature conundrum", NCAR CESM Workshop, 2024/06.(Slides&recording)

• “Stable Oxygen Isotopes in Tropical South America as Indicators of Past Climate” , Invited talk by Paleoclimatology Group Seminar, 2024/07. (Bilibili)