Prof. Dr. Sönke Zaehle

Director

Department Biogeochemical Signals (BSI)
Research group Tall Tower Atmospheric Gas Measurements (TAG)
Research group Terrestrial Biosphere Modelling (TBM)
+49 3641 57-6300
+49 3641 57-7300

szaehle@...

A3.003

MPG Publications

Main Focus

My main research interest lies in the interaction of land biota with the climate system. My research integrates new ecophysiological knowledge, ecological observations (including plant trait information, in situ measurements, atmospheric concentration measurements, and remote sensing data) with modelling at different scales and levels of complexities. I develop, test and apply large-scale process-based terrestrial biosphere models to understand the interactions between land-surface and atmospheric processes.

Curriculum Vitae

since 2/2022

Honorary Professor at the Faculty for Chemistry and Earth Sciences of the Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, DE

since 6/2020	Director of the Biogeochemical Signals Department at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, DE
2009-2020	Leader of the Terrestrial Biosphere Modelling Research Group at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, DE
2005-2008	PostDoc at the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Gif sur Yvette, FR
2001-2005	Doktorand an der Universität Potsdam / Potsdam Institut für Klimafolgenforschung, Potsdam, DE
2000-2001	MSc-Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
1997-2000	Study of Geoecology at the Institute of Geoecology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, DE.

My work at MPI Biogeochemistry

Nutrient cycles and the global carbon cycle
- Earth System Models for the future (ESM2025): Further development and application of the QUINCY model (Quantifying interactions between terrestrial nutrient cycles and the climate system.
- ClimGrassHydro: Model-data synthesis for the ClimGrass experiment to analyze effects of warming, elevated CO_2 and extreme climatic events on the productivity and biogeochemistry of a managed C3 grassland.
Model evaluation and benchmarking activities
- ESA-funded Land-Carbon-Constellation project (2021-2023)
- Climate Carbon interactions in the currenct century (4C project) (2019-2023)
- TRENDY: Trends in net land carbon exchange over the contemporary period.

Teaching

I hold an honorary professorship at the Faculty for Chemistry and Earth Sciences of the Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, and am faculty member of the IMPRS for Global Biogeochemical Cycles.

In the winter-term, I teach climatology for physical geographers at the Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena.
In the summer-term, I teach global environmental modelling at the Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena
I also contribute to PhD-level courses on terrestrial and Earth system modeling and global change.

Community service

Lead Author of the 6th assessment report of the IPCC working group I, Chapter 5 (Carbon and other biogeochemical cycles).
Associate editor for the journal Biogeosciences
Advisor for the journal New Phytologist.
Member of the Michael Stifel Centre Jena for data-driven and simulation-based science at the Friedrich Schiller Universität, Jena
Member of the scientific steering committee of the German Climate Computing Service DKRZ
Member of the Minerva-Weitzmann Committee

Selected peer-reviewed publications

Knauer, J.; Zaehle, S.; Reichstein, M.; Medlyn, B. E.; Forkel, M.; Hagemann, S.; Werner, C.: The response of ecosystem water-use efficiency to rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations: sensitivity and large-scale biogeochemical implications. New Phytologist 213 (4), pp. 1654 - 1666 (2017)

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DOI

post-print

External

Medlyn, B. E.; Zaehle, S.; Kauwe, M. G. D.; Walker, A. P.; Dietze, M. C.; Hanson, P. J.; Hickler, T.; Jain, A. K.; Luo, Y.; Parton, W. et al.; Prentice, I. C.; Thornton, P. E.; Wang, S.; Wang, Y.-P.; Weng, E.; Iversen, C. M.; McCarthy, H. R.; Warren, J. M.; Oren, R.; Norby, R. J.: Using ecosystem experiments to improve vegetation models. Nature Climate Change 5 (6), pp. 528 - 534 (2015)

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Meyerholt, J.; Sickel, K.; Zaehle, S.: Ensemble projections elucidate effects of uncertainty in terrestrial nitrogen limitation on future carbon uptake. Global Change Biology 26 (7), pp. 3978 - 3996 (2020)

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supplementary-material

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External

Thum , T.; Caldararu, S.; Engel, J.; Kern, M.; Pallandt, M.; Schnur, R.; Yu, L.; Zaehle, S.: A new terrestrial biosphere model with coupled carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles (QUINCY v1.0; revision 1772). Geoscientific Model Development 12, pp. 4781 - 4802 (2019)

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ZIP

Zaehle, S.; Ciais, P.; Friend, A. D.; Prieur, V.: Carbon benefits of anthropogenic reactive nitrogen offset by nitrous oxide emissions. Nature Geoscience 4 (9), pp. 601 - 605 (2011)

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Zaehle, S.; Dalmonech, D.: Carbon-nitrogen interactions on land at global scales: current understanding in modelling climate biosphere feedbacks. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 3 (5), pp. 311 - 320 (2011)

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Zaehle, S.; Friedlingstein, P.; Friend, A. D.: Terrestrial nitrogen feedbacks may accelerate future climate change. Geophysical Research Letters 37, p. L01401 (2010)

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Zaehle, S.; Medlyn, B. E.; De Kauwe, M. G.; Walker, A. P.; Dietze, M. C.; Hickler, T.; Luo, Y.; Wang, Y.-P.; El-Masri, B.; Thornton, P. et al.; Jain, A.; Wang, S.; Warlind, D.; Weng, E.; Parton, W.; Iversen, C. M.; Gallet-Budynek, A.; McCarthy, H.; Finzi, A.; Hanson, P. J.; Prentice, I. C.; Oren, R.; Norby, R. J.: Evaluation of 11 terrestrial carbon-nitrogen cycle models  against observations from two temperate free-air CO₂ enrichment studies. New Phytologist 202 (3), pp. 803 - 822 (2014)

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