Project Details
Projekt
How is the stratosphere-troposphere coupling affected by climate change, and how strong is the climate feedback? (SHARP-STC)
Subject Area
Atmospheric Science
Term
from 2009 to 2017
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 68851489
The focus of this project is to determine the role of the interaction between the stratosphere and troposphere in a changing climate, in particular to assess the impact of a changing stratosphere on the troposphere- surface system. Observations and model studies have shown that the troposphere and stratosphere influence each other on different time scales, but the mechanisms responsible are not well understood. Questions that will be addressed also in Phase II of this project are if the importance of the coupling between the stratosphere and the troposphere will change in a changing climate and what the consequences will be for surface climate and weather. Transient simulations of the past and future as well as complementary sensitivity simulations with state-of-the-art Chemistry-Climate models (CCMs) will be performed and analysed to study how well current models are able to reproduce the observed coupling, to understand the responsible mechanisms, and to predict its future evolution. New aspects in Phase II are the extension of our studies to the effects of radiative and chemical coupling processes on the troposphere-surface system. The relevance of additional climate feedback processes associated with ocean coupling will be addressed by applying a CCM with an interactive ocean model. The role of the representation of stratospheric processes for stratosphere-troposphere coupling will be studied in simulations with an Earth System Model (ESM) with different spatial resolutions.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Participating Person
Dr. Christoph Brühl
