Climate Change

Global climate change and its regional impacts lead to serious problems, like the scarcity of resources, migration pressure, and confl ict potential. Many of these problems are closely linked to a changed distribution and availability of water. KIT researchers analyze the interaction of climate, water, and climate-relevant greenhouse gases and aerosols extensively.

Climate Diagnosis: Monitoring and Trends

In the last decades, the composition of the atmosphere changed considerably due to emissions caused by man. To understand how these will affect future climate, they have to be measured in the long term on a global scale. KIT scientists develop and operate novel instruments and measurement techniques: satellite instruments, measurement devices on airplanes as well as sounding devices at ground-based stations from northern Sweden to South Africa and the tropics.

Regional Impacts of Global Change

KIT researchers refi ne global climate scenarios to smaller scales with the help of high-resolution regional climate models. Above all, they study how climate change affects fl ooding or drought, the development of vegetation and soils, as well as air quality in climate-sensitive regions (such as the Alps, the Middle East, and the Sahel region). For this purpose, they couple climate models with hydrological, biological, and chemical models.

Climate Assessment: Adaptation and Reduction Strategies

As far as economic consequences of climate change are concerned, quantifi cation of external costs plays a central role. KIT researchers work on methods and models to determine damage and prevention costs and optimally allocate measures. Development of adaptation strategies also focuses on the handling of changed georisks, e.g. in fl ood protection.