Research
“Advancing climate science with high-resolution modelling, AI and digital twins”
We are continuously innovating to:
- Advance understanding of climate dynamics.
- Improve polar climate predictions and their global impact.
- Integrate AI-driven climate modelling.
- Enhance climate storylines for better communication.
Key Research Areas
Understanding the Physics of Climate and Climate Change
- Investigating fundamental climate processes, including:
- Large-scale atmospheric and ocean circulation.
- Climate variability and long-term climate trends.
- The role of polar regions in shaping the global climate.
- Assessing how climate dynamics evolve in response to human-induced changes.
- Improving process-based understanding through observations, simulations, and theory.
Model Development
- FESOMx – The next-generation Finite volumE Element Sea Ice-Ocean Model, designed for:
- High performance (GPU-ready, Python-based, mixed-precision).
- Modular and scalable design for easy adaptation.
- AI integration for improved climate simulations.
- Coupled climate modelling: OpenIFS-FESOM, IFS-FESOM and advanced hybrid models.
- Contributions to CMIP7, supporting international climate projections.
High-Resolution Climate Modelling and Digital Twins
- Kilometer-scale simulations, including climate projections for the late 21st century.
- Digital twins for Destination Earth and TerraDT.
- AI-assisted climate modelling to improve efficiency and accuracy.
Climate Storylines – Making Climate Change More Tangible
- Developing operational and high-resolution storylines to explore:
- Extreme weather events, Antarctic sea ice and AMOC.
- Using spectral nudging to align models with real-world data for evaluation.
Artificial Intelligence in Climate Science
- AI-driven emulators and foundation models for:
- Sea ice, ocean, and climate systems.
- High-resolution downscaling for local climate insights.
- AI-based diagnostics for tracking ocean eddies and other key processes.
- AI-powered tools: Sea Ice Emulator, AWI AI Assistant, PangaeaGPT.
Polar Prediction
AWI Coupled Prediction System (AWI-CPSv3) for Arctic and Antarctic forecasts.