CMIP6 - German contributions to the database for the next assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC
The Assessment Reports of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) are the basis for national and international policy in terms of mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. These reports document the most recent scientific knowledge regarding climate change. A significant data base are the results of the international climate model comparison CMIP (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project).
The IPCC does not conduct any research itself, but gathers the relevant knowledge and assesses it from a scientific perspective. An IPCC Assessment Report is published every six to seven years, and consists of four sub-reports: contributions from the three IPCC Working Groups as well as a Synthesis Report. For IPCC Working Group I, which deals with the physical science basis of climate change, the results of computer simulations of climate change are a central element. The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) is organizing international comparisons of such climate model simulations with the "Coupled Model Intercomparison Project" (CMIP). Research groups from many countries contribute to this with their own climate projections, which are evaluated and compared as a joint effort.
The aim of the German funding measure is the preparation and implementation of the climate simulations, introduced as a German contribution to the current model comparison CMIP6. With its financial support, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) wants to enable a significant German participation in the necessary preparatory work and thus also assume international responsibility.
The project objectives are:
- Preparation of the computer models with which the comparisons can be carried out
- Development and provision of data post-processing software
- Development and provision of diagnostic and evaluation software
- Provision of infrastructure for international comparisons
- Implementation of the central simulated simulations
The work thus provides solid foundations for knowledge-based decisions in the field of sustainability policy and identifies research gaps.
The German contribution to CMIP6 is generated on global scales with the latest versions of the earth system models MPI-ESM and EMAC.
The climate simulations were performed between 2016 and 2020 on the supercomputer at the German Climate Computing Center.
On behalf of the BMBF (Unit 723 "Global Change - Climate, Biodiversity"), the Environment and Sustainability department of the DLR Project Management Agency supervises the funding measure CMIP6 technically and administratively.
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