2010 - Regional climate modelling and its use for impact research

Climate models are important tools for assessing the impacts of probable climate change on human and natural systems and hence in terms of adaptation to a future climate. Informed decision-making based on climate change information, however, requires a good understanding of the fundamental principles of climate and climate impact models, including large inherent uncertainties.

The PhD course will address how information based on regional climate models (RCM) may be used for assessing the impacts of climate change, e.g. as input to environmental and socio-economical models. The course will provide a thorough introduction to global and regional climate modelling, presenting the participants with an overview of state-of-the-art. Moreover, the students will be exposed to dedicated theoretical and practical sessions relating to the following key areas:

- Regional projections and their use in impact assessments
- Model ensembles and ensemble techniques
- Uncertainties in regional projections and impact assessments
- Communicating uncertainties 

The course will comprise a combination of keynote lectures by leading experts within the climate modelling and impacts community and exercise sessions, where the participants divide into groups. Each group of students will disseminate and apply the information and tools introduced in the lectures to a specific project. Exercise sessions will include elements of data handling from large RCM archives. At the end of the course, each group will report back to plenary, sharing the results and experiences from their work.

The target group for the course is PhD students working with regional climate modelling or impacts research in relation to climate change. In addition, young researchers and professionals with interest in the topic may also benefit from following the course.

Click here to visit the course website.