22 - UHAM

The Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) is a recognized research center at the University of Hamburg. It brings together the expertise of nine university institutes and facilities and is part of the KlimaCampus Hamburg. Members include oceanographers, meteorologists, marine biologists, geophysicists, geologists, soil scientists, geographers and biogeochemists, as well as researchers in the business and social sciences, all of whom are actively engaged in climate, environmental and earth system research. As such, CEN links the natural and social sciences and combines resources to address far-reaching, cross-disciplinary questions. 

The Institut für Meereskunde, as one of the members of CEN, performs basic research and academic education in physical oceanography. It has a staff of 60 researchers and is equipped for sea going ocean work. It has access to the fleet of German research vessels. The observational activities have always been complemented by modelling studies, notably, but not exclusively, on circulation in the North Atlantic. Remote sensing and data assimilation is another expertise for which UHAM is well known. The institute performs the German ECCO effort (GECCO) by which global and regional data assimilation is being performed over the past 50 years. It has access to the university’s computer centre and the German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ).  The institute’s research plan calls for focus in the European Arctic and Sub-arctic Seas in the fields of experimental, modelling and remote sensing work. 

UHAM has been actively participating in various European projects as well as in the North Atlantic field work for CLIVAR. UHAM has a well-established and reputed ability for participating EC research projects in different disciplines and receives professional support by the financial and administrative staff of the University. UHAM is well prepared for procedures implemented in projects funded by European Commission and builds up on the experience made in coordinating and participating in over two hundred EC funded projects from FP5 throughout H2020. UHAM provides experienced, skilled and significantly endowed technical and administrative resources.

Role in the project

Within WP2 UHAM will be contributing to the following: Identification of key parameters required to observe the physical state of the Arctic: to this extent a coupled phyical model will be run and key parameters will be identified from the resulting time-varying state. Potential parameters: SSH, hydrography in upper Arctic, barotropic stream function, bottom pressure, sea level pressure, run-off and surface buoyancy forcing, wind stress, atmospheric temperature. Identification of sampling requirement of the identified key parameters: to this end the space-time variability of those parameters will be analyzed in coupled model simulations. From the results a sampling strategy will be identified; as well as the observing components that are suitable to perform the observations. 

UHAM will contribute to WP6 with focus on the integration information production: Setup of an Arctic synthesis system for an integrated interdisciplinary observing system. This work will build on previous MONARCH-A work, improve and expand it using the GECCO and CESAM model environments.

UHAM will also compile roadmap within WP1.