DAAD scholarship "Reconstructing climate variability using observational data, proxy reconstructions and models"

Monica Ionita
 

In the framework of my PhD, the goal is to accurately describe and understand the Northern Hemisphere dominant climate modes in an as large as possible space-time perspective. Some atmospheric modes, like the Arctic Oscillation (AO) (Thompson and Wallace, 2000), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO; Hurrell, 1995) show coherent spatial variability while their temporal evolution is recursive, but not regular. These are also known as atmospheric teleconnections (Wallace and Gutzler, 1981).

Observational data with a quasi-global coverage cover only the last century and a half, a period which was already influenced by anthropogenic effects. However, it is clear that the extension of the studies to earlier periods not only improves our understanding about atmospheric modes and interannual variability, but also enables the study of physical processes with longer time scales (e.g. with centennial and millennial time scales).