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Marine climate research

Last Update
23.12.2011

University of Kiel

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Faculty of Mathematics and
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Institute of Geosciences

Marine climate research

Our topics

Ocean & climate

Marine climate research deals with the role of the ocean in the global climate system.The global climate system consists of individual components (atmosphere, ocean, continents, marine sediments, ice covers) which interact on different levels in a complex manner. In this system, the ocean connects the individual components and acts mainly as a storage and transport medium for heat as well as suspended and dissolved particles. The ocean's outer boundaries (ocean surface, coast, ocean floor) connect the ocean with the other components. Across these boundaries, a number of important exchange processes of energy (heat and moisture) and organic and anorganic elements (e.g. carbon, oxygen, nitrogen) take place. Due to its large volume and thus its large storage capacity for heat and matter, the ocean serves as one of the main regulators of the global climate.

Climate archives on the ocean floor

The sediments at the bottom of the ocean consist of anorganic and organic particles from the continents, the atmosphere and the water column which have sunk down and settled here over millions of years. The particles from different periods in time differ in their composition depending on the climatic conditions of their time in the atmosphere, on the continent, in the water column ...Therefore, the sediments are - layer by layer - archives for physical, chemical and biological processes in prehistorical times, which can be tracked back to the atmosphere, the ocean or the continents.We can therefore use them to reconstruct the climatic conditions in the past millions of years (paleo climate research, gr. paleo = „old“).

Model simulations of climate

Nowadays we are able to reproduce - or at least approximate - the complex processes and interactions within and between the climate system components by applying computer based models. Currently, models are mainly used to understand the interactions between individual processes of the current climate and to develop projections ("forecasts") for future climate change.

Model - archive comparisons

Simulations of the current climate can be validated using instrumental measurements. These are available for the past 150 years only - at a maximum. For the future, data for comparison (validation) are naturally lacking. Applying the existing climate models to past climate conditions, allows for tests of the models' flexibility to correctly reproduce climate processes. Furthermore, hypotheses drawn from climate reconstructions can be tested against the background of the physical assumptions made for model simulations. In this manner, studies of past climatic conditions can give an indication of the quality of climate predictions made with the existing models.