Research and Projects

For climate scientists the main motivation of their research lies in the understanding of the functioning of the climate system. Here at the AWI, being a research institution with a strong expertise in polar and marine research, our focus is on the role of the polar regions in the global climate system.

Climate change

• Sea level rise
• Greenland ice melting
• Ice shelf ocean interaction
• Impact of climate change on bio-geochemistry
• Impact of vanishing sea ice
• Dynamics of the Arctic Ocean

Predictability of the climate system

• MiKlip - TORUS (Project "Mittelfristige Klimaprognose" funded by BMBF)

Model development and process studies

• Model development is research
• Diagnostic techniques
• Sea ice-ocean modelling (FESOM and MITgcm)
• Stochastic parameterizations
• Coupled model development (ECHAM5-FESOM)
• Understanding the dynamics and change of the Antarctic Bottom Water

Development and application of data assimilation methods

• Inverse modelling
• Variational approaches
• Ensemble approaches
• Combination of gravity observations and other geodetic parameters with ocean models

We collaborate with several other institutes in PACES, the Hemholtz research programme 2009-2013.