Climate Physics
A basic understanding of the climate system is of particular importance in times of climate change. Climate physics is concerned with research into the physics (particularly dynamics) of atmosphere, ocean and ice and their interactions in the coupled climate system. Special research priorities in climate physics at the Institute for Physics and Astronomy and its affiliated non-university research institutions include the physics of the atmosphere, the hydrological cycle, exploring global ocean currents, the dynamics of the large ice sheets of Greenland and the Antarctica in terms of its contribution to sea level rise under global warming, and research into the climate history of the Earth. In addition to direct measurements and the analysis of data, numerical models of the coupled climate system and of its components are developed and applied.
