Climate Modelling Activities at the Max-Planck-Institute of Meteorology, Hamburg

Abstract

The hierarchy of climate models in development at the Max-Planck-Institute of Meteorology extends from low order empirical linear prediction and stochastic models to high resolution models of the coupled ocean-ice-atmosphere-biosphere system. Simple stochastic models are able to explain many of the qualitative features of natural climate variability and can be applied in the inverse modelling mode to quantify important interaction processes within the climatic system. The statistical analysis techniques developed for inverse modelling and empirical model construction are useful also for analysing numerical climate response experiments with atmospheric general circulation models. The main emphasis in the development of high resolution models has been placed on the global ocean circulation. The tropical oceanic response to observed atmospheric wind forcing could be well simulated over a 25 year period with a high resolution primitive equation equatorial ocean model. A large scale, quasi-geostrophic global ocean circulation model has been used for the computation of the heat transport and storage in the oceans and the development of a global carbon cycle model incorporating a more realistic treatment of the storage, transport and biochemical conversions of carbon in the ocean. Models of sea ice and ice sheet dynamics are also in development and will be coupled in future experiments with high resolution atmospheric and ocean circulation models.