Geosystem Modeling

Students are supported during all phases of their academic studies. In the early stages they participate in our courses and exercises. Later, they are in close contact with their supervisors for preparing exams and final papers.

Bachelor students

During the Bachelor's program, the necessary basic concepts for understanding climate models are developed and practiced with simple applications. For the Bachelor thesis, complex climate programs are used to calculate and describe climate changes.

Courses in the Bachelor Program Geowissenschaften:
Mathematical Principles of Geosciences I
Mathematical Principles of Geosciences II
Professional Competences

Courses in the Bachelor Program Marine Geosciences:
Mathematical Principles of Geosciences I
Earth-System Modeling and Data Analysis
Professional Competences

Master students

In the Master's program, different states and changes in the climate system are described and analyzed using more elaborated methods. The climate models of the department are used to investigate scientific questions in detail by means of numerical experiments. This work is documented in the Master thesis.

Courses in Master Program Marine Geosciences:
Earth System Modelling in Climate Change I: Fundamentals
Abrupt, Past and Future Climate Changes in Climate Change II: Models and Data

PhD stu­dents

For a doctoral thesis, existing climate models have to be improved, e.g. by including additional parameters. The effects of those changes are examined by model experiments and compared with results from proxy data analysis. The work gets published by writing corresponding articles for scientific journals.

Completed doctoral thesises:

• Andrés Daniel Castillo Llarena (2025): Ice Sheet evolution in Patagonia and Northern Europe during the last ice age - Insights from numerical modelling
• Brian Crow (2024): Modeling Insights into Arctic Climate and Cryospheric Characteristics during Past Interglacials
• Anouk Vlug (2021): The influence of climate variability on the mass balance of Canadian Arctic land-terminating glaciers, in simulations of the last millennium
• Charlotte Breitkreuz (2019): Ocean State Estimation for the Last Glacial Maximum : Combining Models and Proxy Data via Data Assimilation
• Sri Durgesh Nandini-Weiß (2019): Hydroclimate variations in the Caspian Sea region from the late Quaternary to the future : a model perspective
• Amanda Frigola (2019): Global climate and Indonesian Throughflow during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition : a modeling approach
• Nilima Aditya (2019): Response of Southwest Pacific storminess to changing climate
• Andrea Maria Klus(2018): North Atlantic climate variability in a coupled climate model : Multidecadal cold events and climate state transitions
• Rike Völpel (2018): Benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotopes during the Last Glacial Maximum and last deglaciation : Paleoceanographic inferences from an isotope-enabled global ocean model
• Kerstin Kretschmer (2017): Glo­bal as­sess­ment of spe­cies-spe­ci­fic ha­bi­tats of plank­to­nic fo­ra­mi­ni­fe­ra – An eco­sys­tem mo­de­ling ap­proach
• Igor Venancio (2017): Stable isotopes in planktonic foraminifera as a tool to reconstruct late Quaternary surface hydrography in the western tropical Atlantic
• Alexandra Gronholz (2016): Investigating ocean processes by the use of a regional coupled ocean-atmosphere and a trajectory model
• Rima Rachmayani (2016): Interglacial climate variability during MIS 15 to Holocene Insight from Coupled climate modelling
• Xiao Zhang (2014): On the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and its climate impact during Late Neogene
• Enqing Huang (2013): Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation during the Last Glacial and Deglacial: Inferences from the Atlantic Tropical Thermocline Temperature and Seawater Radiocarbon Activity
• Thejna Tharammal (2013): Stable water isotopes in the global water cycle
• Dian Noor Handiani (2012): Tropical climate and vegetation cover during Heinrich event 1: Simulations with coupled climate vegetation models
• Vidya Raghava Varma (2011): Variability of the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds during the Holocene
• Audrey Maria Victoria Morley (2010): Assessing changes in North Atlantic Central Water-mass properties during the Holocene
• Jörg Franke (2008): Modeling the spatial and temporal variability of marine radiocarbon reservoir ages in the Late Quaternary
• Igaratza Fraile Ugalde (2008): Modeling the spatial and temporal distribution of Planktic Foraminifera
• Petra Langebroek (2008): Antarctic ice-sheet expansions in the Middle Miocene and Pliocene
• Adriana Sima (2005): Modeling oxygen isotopes in ice sheets linked to quaternary ice-volume variations

Online Lecture on Climate Change at German Climate Consortium (DKK)