I currently enjoy a 5-year competitive postdoctoral contract awarded by the University of Murcia (UMU), lead the CLIMAX project (selected in a “young research leaders” call by the Fundación Séneca), aimed at help designing decarbonized energy scenarios with maximum efficiency and stability, and supervise 2 PhD students. The bulk of my research develops in the fields of regional climate modeling and its application for renewable energy resources assessments: variability, complementarity (between wind and solar) and vulnerability to climate change.

After my BSc in Physics (Complutense University of Madrid, 2006) and a MSc on computational scientific tools (UMU, 2008), I formed as climate modeler during my PhD at the UMU (within the MAR group, supervised by Juan Pedro Montávez) and several training and research stays at the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht and the Max Planck Institute of Meteorology. This ability served me to get involved in Euro-CORDEX and in a range of cross-disciplinary research works, projects and contracts, namely in the fields of natural hazards, geomorphology, paleoclimatology, air quality and other topics with links to climate variability.

In 2011, immediately after my PhD, I moved to the Dom Luiz Institue (IDL, Portugal) to join the group headed by Ricardo M. Trigo, where I led research on the link between large-scale tele-connection patterns and variability of the renewable resources at local scale. In 2013 I moved to the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE, France) to join the group headed by Robert Vautard, where I led the development of the CLIMIX model, a tool to evaluate climate change impacts on the energy mix. In 2014 I obtained a 2-year "Doctors recruitment" grant and returned to the UMU, joining back the MAR group, until present.

Main publications

Exacerbated fires in Mediterranean Europe due to anthropogenic warming projected with non-stationary climate-fire models. Turco, Marco; Rosa-Cánovas, Juan José; Bedia, Joaquín; Jerez, Sonia; Montávez, Juan Pedro; Llasat, Maria Carmen and Provenzale, Antonello. Nature Communications. 2018 . 10.1038/s41467-018-06358-z

Impact of evolving greenhouse gas forcing on the warming signal in regional climate model experiments. Jerez, S.; López-Romero, J. M.; Turco, M.; Jiménez-Guerrero, P.; Vautard, R. and Montávez, J. P.. Nature Communications. 2018 . 10.1038/s41467-018-03527-y

A 49 year hindcast of surface winds over the Iberian Peninsula. Lorente-Plazas, R.; Montávez, J. P.; Jerez, S.; Gómez-Navarro, J. J.; Jiménez-Guerrero, P. and Jiménez, P. A.. International Journal of Climatology. 35. 10. 3007--3023 . 2015. 10.1002/joc.4189

The impact of climate change on photovoltaic power generation in Europe. Jerez, Sonia; Tobin, Isabelle; Vautard, Robert; Montávez, Juan Pedro; López-Romero, Jose María; Thais, Françoise; Bartok, Blanka; Christensen, Ole Bøssing; Colette, Augustin; Déqué, Michel and others. Nature communications. 6. 10014 . 2015. 10.1038/ncomms10014

Characterization of surface winds over the Iberian Peninsula. Lorente-Plazas, R.; Montávez, J. P.; Jimenez, P. A.; Jerez, S.; Gómez-Navarro, J. J.; García-Valero, J. A. and Jimenez-Guerrero, P.. Int. J. Climatol.. 35. 6. 1007--1026 . 2014. 10.1002/joc.4034

Future Air Pollution in Europe from a Multi-physics Ensemble of Climate Change-Air Quality Projections. Jimenez-Guerrero, Pedro; Jerez, Sonia; Gomez Navarro, Juan J.; Lorente, Raquel; Montavez, Juan P.; Steyn, DG; Builtjes, PJH and Timmermans, RMA. Air Pollution Modeling and Its Application Xxii. 3--7 . 2014

A multi-physics ensemble of present-day climate regional simulations over the Iberian Peninsula. Jerez, Sonia; Pedro Montavez, Juan; Jimenez-Guerrero, Pedro; Jose Gomez-Navarro, Juan; Lorente-Plazas, Raquel and Zorita, Eduardo. Climate Dynamics. 40. 11-12. 3023--3046 . 2013

A multi-physics ensemble of regional climate change projections over the Iberian Peninsula. Jerez, Sonia; Pedro Montavez, Juan; Jose Gomez-Navarro, Juan; Lorente-Plazas, Raquel; Andres Garcia-Valero, Juan and Jimenez-Guerrero, Pedro. Climate Dynamics. 41. 7-8. 1749--1768 . 2013

Impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation on European aerosol ground levels through local processes: a seasonal model-based assessment using fixed anthropogenic emissions. Jerez, S.; Jimenez-Guerrero, P.; Montavez, J. P. and Trigo, R. M.. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 13. 22. 11195--11207 . 2013

Impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation on the variations of aerosol ground levels through local processes over Europe. Jerez, S.; Jimenez-Guerrero, P.; Montávez, J. P. and Trigo, R. M.. Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss.. 13. 5. 13889--13914 . 2013. 10.5194/acpd-13-13889-2013

Spatio-temporal Complementarity between Solar and Wind Power in the Iberian Peninsula. Jerez, S.; Trigo, R. M.; Sarsa, A.; Lorente-Plazas, R.; Pozo-Vázquez, D. and Montávez, J. P.. Energy Procedia. 40. 48--57 . 2013. 10.1016/j.egypro.2013.08.007

The Impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation on Renewable Energy Resources in Southwestern Europe. Jerez, S.; Trigo, R. M.; Vicente-Serrano, S. M.; Pozo-Vazquez, D.; Lorente-Plazas, R.; Lorenzo-Lacruz, J.; Santos-Alamillos, F. and Montavez, J. P.. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. 52. 10. 2204--2225 . 2013

Uncertainties in future ozone and PM10 projections over Europe from a regional climate multiphysics ensemble. Jimenez-Guerrero, P.; Jerez, S.; Montavez, J. P. and Trigo, R. M.. Geophysical Research Letters. 40. 21. 5764--5769 . 2013

Impacts of climate change on ground level gas-phase pollutants and aerosols in the Iberian Peninsula for the late XXI century. Jimenez-Guerrero, Pedro; Pedro Montavez, Juan; Jose Gomez-Navarro, Juan; Jerez, Sonia and Lorente-Plazas, Raquel. Atmospheric Environment. 55. 483--495 . 2012

Internal and external variability in regional simulations of the Iberian Peninsula climate over the last millennium. Gomez-Navarro, J. J.; Montavez, J. P.; Jimenez-Guerrero, P.; Jerez, S.; Lorente-Plazas, R.; Gonzalez-Rouco, J. F. and Zorita, E.. Climate of the Past. 8. 1. 25--36 . 2012

The role of the land-surface model for climate change projections over the Iberian Peninsula. Jerez, S.; Montavez, J. P.; Gomez-Navarro, J. J.; Jimenez, P. A.; Jimenez-Guerrero, P.; Lorente, R. and Gonzalez-Rouco, J. F.. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. 117. 2012

What is the role of the observational dataset in the evaluation and scoring of climate models?. Gomez-Navarro, J. J.; Montavez, J. P.; Jerez, S.; Jimenez-Guerrero, P. and Zorita, E.. Geophysical Research Letters. 39. 2012

Comparison of two different sea-salt aerosol schemes as implemented in air quality models applied to the Mediterranean Basin. Jimenez-Guerrero, P.; Jorba, O.; Pay, M. T.; Montavez, J. P.; Jerez, S.; Gomez-Navarro, J. J. and Baldasano, J. M.. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 11. 10. 4833--4850 . 2011

Isolating the effects of climate change in the variation of secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA) in Europe for the 21st century (1991-2100). Jimenez-Guerrero, Pedro; Jose Gomez-Navarro, Juan; Jerez, Sonia; Lorente-Plazas, Raquel; Andres Garcia-Valero, Juan and Pedro Montavez, Juan. Atmospheric Environment. 45. 4. 1059--1063 . 2011

A regional climate simulation over the Iberian Peninsula for the last millennium. Gómez-Navarro, J. J.; Montávez, J. P.; Jerez, S.; Jiménez-Guerrero, P.; Lorente-Plazas, R.; González-Rouco, J. F. and Zorita, E.. Climate of the Past Discussions. 6. 5. 2071--2116 . 2010. 10.5194/cpd-6-2071-2010

Impacts of climate change on air quality levels in southwestern Europe for the 21$^\textrmst$ century. Jiménez-Guerrero, P.; Jerez, S.; Gómez-Navarro, J.J.; Lorente, R.; García-Valero, J.A. and Montávez, J.P.. HARMO 2010 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes. 327--331 . 2010

Temperature sensitivity to the land-surface model in MM5 climate simulations over the Iberian Peninsula. Jerez, Sonia; Montavez, Juan P.; Gomez-Navarro, Juan J.; Jimenez-Guerrero, Pedro; Jimenez, Jose M. and Gonzalez-Rouco, Jesus F.. Meteorologische Zeitschrift. 19. 4. 363--374 . 2010

Warming patterns in regional climate change projections over the Iberian Peninsula. Gomez-Navarro, J. J.; Montavez, J. P.; Jimenez-Guerrero, P.; Jerez, S.; Garcia-Valero, J. A. and Gonzalez-Rouco, J. F.. Meteorologische Zeitschrift. 19. 3. 275--285 . 2010

Optimizing the execution of a parallel meteorology simulation code. Jerez, Sonia; Montavez, Juan-Pedro; Gimenez, Domingo and IEEE. 2009 Ieee International Symposium on Parallel \& Distributed Processing, Vols 1-5. 2489--2494 . 2009

Impacts of climate change on air quality levels in southwestern Europe for the 21\<sup\>st\</sup\> century. Jiménez-Guerrero, P.; Jerez, S.; Gómez-Navarro, J.J.; Lorente, R.; García-Valero, J.A. and Montávez, J.P.. HARMO 2010 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes. 327--331 . 2010

Future changes, or lack thereof, in the temporal variability of the combined wind-plus-solar power production in Europe. Jerez, S.; Tobin, I.; Turco, M.; Jiménez-Guerrero, P.; Vautard, R. and Montávez, J. P.. Renewable Energy. 2019 . 10.1016/j.renene.2019.02.060

Skilful forecasting of global fire activity using seasonal climate predictions. Turco, Marco; Jerez, Sonia; Doblas-Reyes, Francisco J.; AghaKouchak, Amir; Carmen Llasat, Maria and Provenzale, Antonello. Nature Communications. 9. 2018

Vulnerabilities and resilience of European power generation to 1.5 degrees C. Tobin, I.; Greuell, W.; Jerez, S.; Ludwig, F.; Vautard, R.; van Vliet, M. T. H. and Breon, F-M. Environmental Research Letters. 13. 4. 2018

An evaluation of offshore wind power production by floatable systems: A case study from SW Portugal. Pacheco, A.; Gorbeña, E.; Sequeira, C. and Jerez, S.. Energy. 131. 239--250 . 2017. 10.1016/j.energy.2017.04.149

Assessing the impact of measurement time interval when calculating wind speed means and trends under the stilling phenomenon. Azorin-Molina, Cesar; Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M.; McVicar, Tim R.; Revuelto, Jesus; Jerez, Sonia and Lopez-Morenoa, Juan-I.. International Journal of Climatology. 37. 1. 480--492 . 2017

Assessment of ski condition reliability in the Spanish and Andorran Pyrenees for the second half of the 20th century. Gilaberte-Burdalo, M.; Lopez-Moren, J. I.; Moran-Tejeda, E.; Jerez, S.; Alonso-Gonzalez, E.; Lopez-Martin, F. and Pino-Otin, M. R.. Applied Geography. 79. 127--142 . 2017

Evaluating fire growth simulations using satellite active fire data. Sa, Ana C. L.; Benali, Akli; Fernandes, Paulo M.; Pinto, Renata M. S.; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Salis, Michele; Russo, Ana; Jerez, Sonia; Soares, Pedro M. M.; Schroeder, Wilfrid; Pereira, Jose M. C.. Remote Sensing of Environment. 190. 302--317 . 2017

Projected changes in surface solar radiation in CMIP5 global climate models and in EURO-CORDEX regional climate models for Europe. Bartók, B.; Wild, M.; Folini, D.; Lüthi, D.; Kotlarski, S.; Schär, C.; Vautard, R.; Jerez, S. and Imecs, Z.. Climate Dynamics. 49. 7-8. 2665--2683 . 2017

Coastal recirculation potential affecting air pollutants in Portugal: The role of circulation weather types. Russo, Ana; Gouveia, Célia; Levy, Ilan; Dayan, Uri; Jerez, Sonia; Mendes, Manuel and Trigo, Ricardo. Atmospheric Environment. 135. 9--19 . 2016. 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.03.039

Climate change impacts on the power generation potential of a European mid-century wind farms scenario. Tobin, Isabelle; Jerez, Sonia; Vautard, Robert; Thais, Francoise; van Meijgaard, Erik; Prein, Andreas; Deque, Michel; Kotlarski, Sven; Maule, Cathrine Fox; Nikulin, Grigory; Noel, Thomas and Teichmann, Claas. Environmental Research Letters. 11. 3. 2016

Trends of daily peak wind gusts in Spain and Portugal. Azorin-Molina, Cesar; Guijarro, Jose-A.; McVicar, Tim R.; Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M.; Chen, Deliang; Jerez, Sonia and Espirito-Santo, Fatima. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. 121. 3. 1059--1078 . 2016

Assessing climate change impacts on European wind energy from ENSEMBLES high-resolution climate projections. Tobin, Isabelle; Vautard, Robert; Balog, Irena; Breon, Francois-Marie; Jerez, Sonia; Ruti, Paolo Michele; Thais, Francoise; Vrac, Mathieu and Yiou, Pascal. Climatic Change. 128. 1-2. 99--112 . 2015

Sensitivity of two Iberian lakes to North Atlantic atmospheric circulation modes. Hernandez, Armand; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Pla-Rabes, Sergi; Valero-Garces, Blas L.; Jerez, Sonia; Rico-Herrero, Mayte; Vega, Jose C.; Jambrina-Enriquez, Margarita; Giralt, Santiago. Climate Dynamics. 45. 11-12. 3403--3417 . 2015

The CLIMIX model: A tool to create and evaluate spatially-resolved scenarios of photovoltaic and wind power development. Jerez, S.; Thais, F.; Tobin, I.; Wild, M.; Colette, A.; Yiou, P. and Vautard, R.. Renewable \& Sustainable Energy Reviews. 42. 1--15 . 2015

Homogenization and Assessment of Observed Near-Surface Wind Speed Trends over Spain and Portugal. Azorin-Molina, Cesar; Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M.; McVicar, Tim R.; Jerez, Sonia; Sanchez-Lorenzo, Arturo; Lopez-Moreno, Juan-I.; Revuelto, Jesus; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Lopez-Bustins, Joan A. and Espirito-Santo, Fatima. Journal of Climate. 27. 10. 3692--3712 . 2014

Impact of atmospheric circulation patterns on coastal dune dynamics, NW Spain. Gonzalez-Villanueva, R.; Costas, S.; Perez-Arlucea, M.; Jerez, S. and Trigo, R. M.. Geomorphology. 185. 96--109 . 2013

Time-scale and extent at which large-scale circulation modes determine the wind and solar potential in the Iberian Peninsula. Jerez, Sonia and Trigo, Ricardo M.. Environmental Research Letters. 8. 4. 2013

Sand invasion along the Portuguese coast forced by westerly shifts during cold climate events. Costas, Susana; Jerez, Sonia; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Goble, Ronald and Rebelo, Luis. Quaternary Science Reviews. 42. 15--28 . 2012

A seasonal study of the atmospheric dynamics over the Iberian Peninsula based on circulation types. García-Valero, J.A.; Montavez, J.P.; Jerez, S.; Gómez-Navarro, J.J.; Lorente-Plazas, R. and Jiménez-Guerrero, P.. Theoretical and Applied Climatology. 110. 1-2. 291--310 . 2012

More information about Sonia's scientific career can be found here.