Julia explores the Earth system of the past using climate and vegetation models with the aim of better understanding the future Earth system. She compares the model results with various climate proxies.

After studying physics in Konstanz and Potsdam, she completed her PhD at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In her doctoral thesis, she simulated climate during past mass extinctions. From 2020 to 2024, she investigated past warm periods, mainly the Eocene, as a postdoc at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center in Frankfurt using climate and vegetation models.

• climate modeling
• climate variability

• Schmitt, C., Vasilliev, I., Meijer, N., Brugger, J., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Bahr, A., Mulch, A. Eocene maar sediments record a warming of up to 3.5°C during a hyperthermal event 47.2 million years ago. Accepted at Communications Earth & Environment.
• Evans, D., Brugger, J., Inglis, G., & Valdes, P. (2024): The temperature of the deep ocean is a robust proxy for global mean surface temperature during the Cenozoic. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 39, e2023PA004788. doi:10.1029/2023PA004788.
• Kniest, J.K., Davies, A., Brugger, J., Todd, J.A., Fiebig, J., Joachimski, M., Woodland, A., Hickler, T., Voigt, S., Raddatz, J. (2024): Dual clumped isotopes from Mid-Eocene bivalve shell reveal a hot and summer wet climate of the Paris Basin. Commun Earth Environ 5, 330. doi:10.1038/s43247-024-01491-8.
• Meijer, N., Licht, A., Wouterson, A., Hoorn, C., Robin Champigneul, F., Rohrmann, A., Tagliavento, M., Brugger, J., Kelemen, F. D., Schauer, A., Hren, M.H., Sun, A., Fiebig, J., Mulch, A., Dupont-Nivet, G. (2024): Proto-monsoon rainfall and greening in Central Asia due to extreme early Eocene warmth. Nat. Geosci. 17, 158–164. doi:10.1038/s41561-023-01371-4.
• Dahl, T. W., Harding, M. A. R., Brugger, J., Feulner, G., Norrman, K., Lomax, B. H., & Junium, C. (2022): Low atmospheric CO2 levels before the rise of forested ecosystems. Nat. Commun. 13:7616. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-35085-9.
• Morgan, J.V., Bralower, T.J., Brugger, J., & Wünnemann, K. (2022): The Chicxulub impact and its environmental consequences. Nat Rev Earth Environ 3, 338– 354. doi:10.1038/s43017-022-00283-y. *All authors contributed equally
• Brugger, J., Feulner, G., Hoffmann, M., & Petri, S. (2021): A pronounced spike in ocean productivity triggered by the Chicxulub impact. Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2020GL092260. doi:10.1029/2020GL092260.
• Brugger, J., Hofmann, M., Petri, S., & Feulner, G. (2019): On the Sensitivity of the Devonian Climate to Continental Configuration, Vegetation Cover, Orbital Configuration, CO2 Concentration, and Insolation. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 34(8), 1375–1398. doi:10.1029/2019PA003562.
• Brugger, J., Feulner, G., & Petri, S. (2017): Baby, it’s cold outside: Climate model simulations of the effects of the asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous. Geophys. Res. Lett., 44(1), 419–427. doi:10.1002/2016GL072241.
• Brugger, J. (2022): Modeling Changes in Climate during Past Mass Extinctions. Doctoral thesis, Universität Potsdam. doi:10.25932/publishup-53246.