Dr. Franziska S. Hanf

Education

• Ph.D. Climate Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany, 2016.
  Thesis title: South Asian summer monsoon variability: a modelling study with the atmospheric regional climate model HIRHAM5
• M.Sc. Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2012.
  Thesis title: The ocean-atmosphere coupling of the South Asian Summer Monsoon during the last Millennium
• B.Sc. Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2009.
  Thesis title: Analyse der Verschiebung von Klimazonen nach Köppen in Folge der Erhöhung von Treibhausgaskonzentrationen

Scientific Work Experience

• since July 2019: Senior researcher
  Meteorological Institute, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), Cluster of Excellence ‘Climate, Climatic Change, and Society’ (CLICCS), Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
• Feb 2019 - Mar 2019: Research assistant
  Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Climate Sciences / Atmospheric Physics, Research Unit Potsdam, Germany
• Apr 2016 - Nov 2018: Postdoctoral fellow
  International Pacific Research Center (IPRC), School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
• Oct 2015 - Dec 2015: Research assistant
  Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Climate Sciences / Atmospheric Physics, Research Unit Potsdam, Germany

Research Interests

• Urban system dynamics modeling
• Urban climate change adaptation and sustainable transformations
• Inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches
• Urban risk and vulnerability assessment
• Asian summer monsoon

Project

• CLICCS C1: Sustainable Adaptation Scenarios for Urban Areas - Water from Four Sides

Publications

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

• Hanf, F.S., Ament, F., Boettcher, M., Burgemeister, F., Gaslikova, L., Hoffmann, P., Knieling, J., Matthias, V., Meier, L., Pein, J., Poschlod, B., Quante, M., Ratzke, L., Rudolph, E., Scheffran, J., Schlünzen, K. H., Shokri, N., Sillmann, J., Vogelbacher, A., von Szombathely, M., Wickel, M. (2025). Towards a socio-ecological system understanding of urban flood risk and barriers to climate change adaptation using causal loop diagrams. International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, 17 (1), 69–102, doi: 10.1080/19463138.2025.2474399.

• Hanf, F.S., Meier, L., Hawxwell, T., Oßenbrügge, J., Knieling, J. and Sillmann, J. (2024). “Narrative images” as a learning approach: (transformative) adaptation scenarios for dealing with urban water risks in Hamburg, Germany. Front. Sustain. Cities, 6, 1430257, doi: 10.3389/frsc.2024.1430257.

• von Szombathely, M., Hanf, F.S., Bareis, J., Meier, L., Oßenbrügge, J., Pohl, T. (2023). An Index-Based Approach to Assess Social Vulnerability for Hamburg, Germany. Int. J. Disaster Risk. Sci., 14, 782-794, doi: 10.1007/s13753-023-00517-7.

• Hanf, F.S., and H. Annamalai (2020). Systematic errors in South Asian monsoon precipitation: Process-based diagnostics and sensitivity to entrainment in NCAR models. J. Climate, 33 (7), 2817-2840, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0495.1.

• Hanf, F.S., H. Annamalai, A. Rinke, and K. Dethloff (2017). South Asian summer monsoon breaks: Process-based diagnostics in HIRHAM5. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 122 (9), 4880-4902, doi: 10.1002/2016JD025967.

• Hanf, F.S., J. Körper, T. Spangehl, and U. Cubasch (2012). Shifts of climate zones in multi-model climate change experiments using the Köppen climate classification. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 21 (2), 111-123, doi: 10.1127/0941-2948/2012/0344.

Book Chapters

• Hanf, F. S., Knieling, K., von Szombathely, M., Wickel, M., Oßenbrügge, J., Schlipf, S. and Sillmann, J. (2024). Hamburg, Germany. In: Engels, A.; J. Marotzke; B. Ratter; E. G. Gresse; A. López-Rivera; A. Pagnone; J. Wilkens (eds.); 2024. Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook 2024. Conditions for Sustainable Climate Change Adaptation. Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climatic Change, and Society” (CLICCS), pp. 104-108. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld. doi: 10.14361/9783839470817.

• Olonscheck, D., and F. S. Hanf (2024). Are Recently Observed Heavy Precipitation Extremes Realistically Represented by State-of-the-Art Spatial Resolutions of Global Climate Models? In: Engels, A.; J. Marotzke; B. Ratter; E. G. Gresse; A. López-Rivera; A. Pagnone; J. Wilkens (eds.); 2024. Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook 2024. Conditions for Sustainable Climate Change Adaptation. Cluster of Excellence “Climate, Climatic Change, and Society” (CLICCS). pp. 79-83. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld. doi: 10.14361/9783839470817.

• Hanf, F.S., Gresse, E.G., Schrum, C., Wickel, M., Bolaños, T.G., Umaña, C.R., Huang-Lachmann, J.-T., (2023). Climate action as a multi-dimensional challenge. In: Engels, A., Marotzke, J., Gresse, E.G., López-Rivera, A., Pagnone, A., Wilkens, J. (eds.); 2023. Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook. The plausibility of a 1.5°C limit to global warming - Social drivers and physical processes, Hamburg Germany, doi: 10.25592/uhhfdm.11230

• Jantke, K., Pein, J., Hanf, F.S, Schrum, C., Langendijk, G.S, Hoffmann, P., Schneider, U.A., Neuburger, M., Seiffert, R., Umaña, C.R., Sillmann, J., Wickel, M. (2023). Climate change adaptation in key social-ecological systems. In: Engels, A., Marotzke, J., Gresse, E.G., López-Rivera, A., Pagnone, A., Wilkens, J. (eds.); 2023. Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook. The plausibility of a 1.5°C limit to global warming - Social drivers and physical processes, Hamburg Germany, doi: 10.25592/uhhfdm.11230

• Gresse, E.G., Schrum, C., Hanf, F.S., Jantke, K., Pein, J. Hawxwell, T. Hoffmann, P., Bolaños, T.G., Langendijk, G.S., Schneider, U.A., Huang-Lachmann, J.-T., Neuburger, M., Umaña, C.R., Seiffert, R., Wickel, M., Sillmann, J., Scheffran, J., Held, H. (2023). Toward a Sustainable Adaptation Plausibility Framework. In: Engels, A., Marotzke, J., Gresse, E.G., López-Rivera, A., Pagnone, A., Wilkens, J. (eds.); 2023. Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook. The plausibility of a 1.5°C limit to global warming - Social drivers and physical processes, Hamburg Germany, doi: 10.25592/uhhfdm.11230

• Gresse, E.G., Schrum, C., Hoffmann, P., Bolaños, T.G., Hanf, F.S., Pein, J., (2023). Plausibility assessment methodology. In: Engels, A., Marotzke, J., Gresse, E.G., López-Rivera, A., Pagnone, A., Wilkens, J. (eds.); 2023. Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook. The plausibility of a 1.5°C limit to global warming - Social drivers and physical processes, Hamburg Germany, doi: 10.25592/uhhfdm.11230

Theses

• Hanf, F.S. (2016). South Asian summer monsoon variability: a modelling study with the atmospheric regional climate model HIRHAM5. Doctoral thesis, Institute of Physics and Astronomy / Faculty of Science / University of Potsdam, urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-89331.

• Hanf, F.S. (2012). The ocean–atmosphere coupling of the South Asian Summer Monsoon during the last Millennium. Master thesis, Interactions in the Climate System of the Earth / Institute of Meteorology / Freie Universität Berlin.

• Hanf, F. S. (2009). Analyse der Verschiebung von Klimazonen nach Köppen in Folge der Erhöhung von Treibhausgakonzentrationen. Bachelor thesis, Interactions in the Climate System of the Earth / Institute of Meteorology, Freie Universität Berlin.

Outreach

• Conceptualisation and realisation of a Stakeholder Workshop 'Anpassung an den Klimawandel für ein nachhaltiges Hamburg – Welche Maßnahmen transformieren die Stadt?' with more than 30 participants from academia and public entities, Hamburg, Germany, 13.11.2024, CLICCS News article.

• Workshop 'Anpassung an den Klimawandel in Hamburg - was ist machbar, was ist plausibel?' at Klimakongress kk23 - Klimaforschung und Zukunftsszenarien, Universität Hamburg, 21.09.2023

• Talk "Wasser von vier Seiten: Welche Wechselwirkungen gibt es mit der Stadt Hamburg als sozioökologisches System? Die Entwicklung eines konzeptionellen Modells als Ergebnis interdisziplinärer Zusammenarbeit" at Interdisciplinary public lecture series "Anpassung an den Klimawandel in der Stadt, auf dem Land und an der Küste – Adaptation to climate change in cities, rural areas, and on the coast" (WiSe 2022/23), Universität Hamburg, 01.11.2022

• Conceptualisation and realisation of the Interdisciplinary public lecture series "Anpassung an den Klimawandel in der Stadt, auf dem Land und an der Küste – Adaptation to climate change in cities, rural areas, and on the coast" (WiSe 2022/2023), Universität Hamburg

Other Professional Activities

• Associated Member of DFG-Network 'Leverage Points for Climate Action' since 2024

• Co-founder and vice-chair (2024-present) of the expert committee 'climate communication' of the German Meteorological Society (Deutsche Meteorologische Gesellschaft; DMG) since 2021

• Representative Young Talents of the Cluster of Excellence ‘Climate, Climatic Change, and Society’ (CLICCS, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany), 2021-2023