From Decoding Turbulence To Unveiling The Fingerprint Of Climate Change

From Decoding Turbulence to Unveiling the Fingerprint of Climate Change: The Science of Klaus Hasselmann

From Decoding Turbulence to Unveiling the Fingerprint of Climate Change

This open access book serves as a reference for the key elements and their significance of Klaus Hasselmann's work on climate science and on ocean wave research, all based on a rigorous and deeply physical thinking. It summarizes the original articles (mostly from the 1970 and 1980s; some of which are hard to find nowadays) and brings them in a present-day context. From 1975 until 2000, he was (founding) Director of the Max Planck Institute of Meteorology, which he made to one of the world-leading academic institutions. He first made the issue of anthropogenic climate change accessible to analysis and prediction and later transformed climate science into a significant factor in forming public policy. The book is written by co-workers and colleagues of Klaus Hasselmann, who—many under his immediate supervision—joined him in this effort. With this background, they present the key achievements and assess the significance of these for the present state of knowledge and scientific practice.

Climate Science Concepts Born in Hamburg

Since the foundation of the Max Planck Institute in 1975 with the now-Nobel laureate Klaus Hasselmann as founding director, the climate science in Hamburg has seen a remarkable boost. Various ideas were brought forward, implemented and tested. Many of them ignited interest in the global scientific community, thus adding significant momentum to the development of modern climate science. The participants of the remarkable development since 1975 have come together to identify these concepts “born in Hamburg”. In an introductory chapter, the historical development, including other significant developments of climate science in the late 19th and early 20th century are addressed. The main part consists of chapters addressing the development of key innovative concepts. These are chosen to describe ideas which have been suggested by scientists while working in Hamburg and have been taken up by the international community in applications and advancements (such as the stochastic framing of dynamics and analysis, adding carbon cycles to climate models, multiple equilibria in climate models, anomaly coupling, downscaling, and constructed proxies). These ideas may not in all cases have been strictly new, or “firsts”, but they were the Hamburg publications which made the difference. The book is mostly a book on scientific concepts and ideas, less so a general history of climate science in Hamburg.