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Climate

understanding & protecting

In order to understand the dynamics, causes and consequences of the climate crisis, we need to understand the climate as a complex interplay between the atmosphere, ocean, ice and biosphere. The ocean plays a key role in this: it stores and transports heat and carbon, buffers changes in the climate system - but can also amplify them.

Society's need for knowledge about sea level rise, extreme weather and changes in global ocean circulation is constantly growing. Marine, polar and climate research is therefore high-profile areas of the University of Bremen.

At MARUM, researchers study both today's climate and climate changes in the Earth's history. Using models, climate reconstructions and long-term observations, they analyze the energy exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean, the dynamics of Atlantic circulation and the role of glaciers in sea level rise.

Tropical coral reefs serve as archives for climate changes over years to centuries. MARUM uses citizen science to quantify regional ocean warming in recent years and decades. The linking of ocean, atmosphere and ice models helps to better understand future climate changes. Another focus is on the investigation of methods for the long-term storage of CO2 in the seabed, which can counteract climate change.


In the Climate research field, we work on an interdisciplinary basis to find answers to these questions:

  • How do natural fluctuations and human influences affect tropical climate phenomena?
  • What were the interactions between climate and biodiversity in past geological eras?
  • How can knowledge from Earth's history be used for climate projections?
Sampling of a sediment core; Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; V. Diekamp

Sampling of a sediment core obtained on Expedition 381 as part of the International IODP Program. The analysis of climate archives, such as sediments and tropical coral reefs, allows us to reconstruct climate changes over decades to millions of years.

Participating Research Groups

Selection of current research projects

PalMod Logo

PalMod

From the last interglacial to the Anthropocene - Modeling a complete glacial cycle

Funded by BMBF

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SFB Energytransfers in Atmosphere And Ocean

SFB Energytransfers in Atmosphere And Ocean

In the Collaborative Research Center, researchers investigate the interaction of turbulence, waves and eddies in the ocean and the atmosphere

Funded by the DFG

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coral reef

AIMS³

Alternative scenarios, innovative technologies and monitoring approaches for the storage of carbon dioxide in oceanic crust

A joint project of the DAM research mission CDRmare

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Current news

Showing 9-12 of 128 items.
Dr. Heather L. Jones examines tiny plankton fossils using a light microscope. Photo: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; M. Toyos Simón.

Oct 1, 2025

Small change, big impact

Climate change poses a major threat to the organisms such as plankton that form the base of the marine food web. A team of scientists from MARUM – Center ...

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