Climate and Environmental Systems

Earth's climate and environmental systems are undergoing a period of rapid change yet we lack an adequate understanding of its causes and the dynamics involved in such transformations. To better understand the risks and consequences of changes in Earth's climate and environmental systems and to better constrain its inherent scientific uncertainties our graduate program focuses on a number of key topics, including research on:
- Past climate variability (Paleoclimatology) before instrumental observations became available using natural archives (corals, speleothems, lake sediments, marine records, ice cores), regional climate models and isotope-enabled global climate models
- The ancient history of the Earth system
- Projections of future climate and environmental change with focus on tropical mountain regions where glaciers and water resources are affected
- Tropical ocean-atmosphere interactions and intraseasonal (MJO) variability
- Tropical monsoon dynamics and easterly waves with emphasis on the West African monsoon
- Solar radiation with applications to photovoltaic electricity generation
- Cloud-climate interactions and the role of aerosols in the climate system
- Remote sensing of the atmosphere
- Biogeochemical cycles