PolarRES

PolarRES is coordinated by the NORCE Norwegian Research Centre (Dr. Priscilla Mooney, prmo@norceresearch.no) with the following partner institutions: AWI, Arctik, BAS-UKRI, DMI, FMI, IMMSP, Lund Univ., met.no, NASC, NIERSC, Univ. Helsinki, Univ. de Liege, Univ. Leeds, Univ. Utrecht, Univ. Turku, Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ.

AWI consortium of the section Atmospheric Physics, Potsdam: Dr. Annette Rinke, Dr. Dörthe Handorf, Dr. Wolfgang Dorn, Dr. Raphael Köhler, Dr. Vanya Romanova, Dr. Ralf Jaiser, Dr. Heidrun Matthes, Dr. Renate Treffeisen

AWI PI: Dr. Annette Rinke, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A45N, 14473 Potsdam, Germany, ++49 (0) 331 2882130, Annette.Rinke@awi.de

AWI Co-PI: Dr. Dörthe Handorf, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A45N, 14473 Potsdam, Germany, ++49 (0) 331 2882131, Doerthe.Handorf@awi.de

The overall objective of PolarRES is to provide new insights into key local-regional scale physical and chemical processes for atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions in the Arctic and Antarctic, their responses to, and influence on, projected changes in the global circulation and their implications for society and the environment. PolarRES will zoom into the climate of both Polar regions with state-of-the-art regional climate models (RCMs), run at unprecedented resolutions, to investigate the influence of projected changes in the global circulation on the climate of the Arctic and Antarctic. Polar climates in a global context remains poorly understood and thus climate change projections in Polar regions have large uncertainties and this hampers mitigation and adaptation efforts. PolarRES proposes an innovative ‘storyline’ approach and novel analysis methods to address these challenges. We will accomplish this by exploiting the recent CMIP6 global climate model (GCM) projections and novel developments in GCMs such as variable resolution grids. High-resolution regional projections will be co-designed with and exploited by impact modellers to produce impact-relevant projections of future climate change for both Polar regions. PolarRES will combine these high-resolution simulations from state-of-the-art RCMs and next generation fully coupled RCMs with a comprehensive range of existing and novel observations (e.g. YOPP and MOSAiC) including satellite products from relevant projects funded by the ESA Earth Observation Programme. The consortium consists of leading European groups in the areas of polar-lower latitude teleconnections, polar oceanography, meteorology, climatology, biogeochemistry, global climate modelling, and regional climate modelling in the Arctic and Antarctic. PolarRES will contribute to the EU Strategy on Climate Action and EU strategy for international cooperation in R&I.

Develop storylines based on physically consistent future changes in atmospheric and ocean circulation using existing CMIP6 data resources and infrastructure. Investigate the impacts of these storylines in both the Polar Regions and lower latitudes (including teleconnections) and provide guidance on storylines (i.e. selection of particular sub-ensembles from the CMIP6 archive) for further investigation in WPs 2-5.

AWI contribution led by Dr. Dörthe Handorf and Dr. Raphael Köhler.

Investigate the effects that resolving key dynamical and physical atmospheric processes in the Polar Regions have on the simulation of Polar-lower latitude teleconnections, feedbacks and regional impacts of climate change. Study the mechanisms linking the Poles and the lower latitudes. Investigate how model improvements such as increased resolution in the Polar Regions affect the representation of these linkages and contribute to improved climate projections. Achieve more robust model representations of recent and future Polar-lower latitude linkages.

AWI contribution led by Dr. Dörthe Handorf and Dr. Raphael Köhler.

1. To build a detailed ensemble of polar climate projections at unprecedented spatial resolutions using state-of-the-art RCMs to dynamically downscale GCMs selected on the basis of their representation of circulation-based storylines identified in WP1 for both the Arctic and Antarctic (e.g. Storm tracks and SAM, respectively).
2. To determine the response of the Polar Regions to future circulation changes using high-resolution RCM climate projections developed in this WP and extensive EO observational datasets.

AWI contribution led by Dr. Vanya Romanova and Dr. Annette Rinke.

Improved understanding of those key physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere, sea ice and ocean, and involved interactions that play a major role in the coupled Arctic climate system and associated Arctic Amplification.

AWI contribution led by Dr. Annette Rinke and Dr. Wolfgang Dorn.

The objective of this work package is to improve understanding of key physical and chemical processes in the fully coupled Antarctic climate system that are closely linked/impacted by the regional changes associated with the WP1 storylines.

To quantify the impacts of climate change and generate policy relevant knowledge to support the capability of the Polar Regions to respond to climate change impacts, by exploiting the co-designed high-resolution regional climate change storylines data (WP3).

AWI contribution led by Dr. Heidrun Matthes.

Maximise PolarRES’s impact and ensure effective communication, dissemination, and exploitation of the project’s results.

AWI contribution led by Dr. Renate Treffeisen.