Climate System Science research at Rice uses a combination of climate models, paleoclimate proxy data, and new techniques like data assimilation and proxy system modeling to constrain climate changes of the past, present, and future. We work to understand rapid climate transitions in the past to better understand how climate change may impact societies under continued anthropogenic change. For example, water isotopes in climate models and paleoclimate proxy data provide a direct window into how atmospheric circulation (e.g. the Walker and Hadley Circulations) changed in the past, and how it might respond to future warming. In particular, we are interested in Gulf Coast climate resilience & forecasting, tracking incidence of Gulf hurricanes and the atmospheric dynamics that give rise to extreme rainfall over Texas (and, in general, the Americas). Using climate model simulations spanning Last Glacial Maximum, 21,000 years ago, to 2100, we examine the rates, magnitudes, and spatial patterns of climate dynamics on Earth.