Group seminar on 11. April, 14:00

Climate Science born in Hamburg: Incorporating Carbon into Climate Models

Prof. Dr. Martin Heimann

The global carbon cycle represents an interesting component in the Earth System. In the atmosphere it is reflected in carbon dioxide and methane, both important greenhouse gases and thus affecting the terrestrial climate. On the other hand, the sources and sinks of these gases are controlled to some extent by the prevailing climate; hence there exist interesting possibilities for climate carbon feedbacks. Understanding, quantifying and modelling this feedback was seen in the scientific community as a challenge already long time ago. A roadmap for addressing this challenge using climate models was established at a seminal workshop in Stockholm in 1974, organised by Bert Bolin and, among others, also Klaus Hasselmann. Nevertheless, it took more than 25 years until fully coupled comprehensive carbon cycle - climate models became available. Critical scientific contributions toward this endeavour came out of Hamburg: in particular the development of HAMOCC, the first dynamic global ocean model with embedded carbon cycle components, developed by Ernst Maier-Reimer.