Research Groups

Group leader: Christoph Gerbig
The Airborne trace gas measurements and mesoscale modelling (ATM) Group aims at making atmospheric measurements of trace gases relevant for our earth's climate, and to utilize these data in combination with transport models to learn about sources/sinks of greenhouse gases and related tracers, most prominently CO₂. On the experimental side this involves high accuracy measurement of trace gases from airborne platforms, but also development and optimization of such instrumentation. On the theoretical side it involves development of analysis tools such as mesoscale tracer transport models coupled to surface flux models. [more]

Group leader: Manon Sabot
The Minerva Fast Track Group studies how plants function, respond to environmental change, and affect the environment around them. We aspire to inform global model development efforts, by proposing new process formulations grounded in theory and probed by field measurements, manipulation experiments, and large observational databases. [more]

Group leader: Mathias Göckede
Scales play an important role for the analysis and interpretation of climate-relevant feedback processes between biosphere and atmosphere. Particularly for highly structured domains such as Arctic permafrost landscapes, to accurately predict large-scale, long-term changes in ecosystem functionality, we need to investigate processes at fine-scales to understand the drivers of these changes. Also, new observational insight into links between ecosystem characteristics and carbon and energy processes needs to be assimilated into flexible modeling frameworks, ideally combining the individual advantages of different modeling philosophies. [more]

Group Leader: Sönke Zaehle
The Terrestrial Biosphere Modelling Group (TBM) aims at improving the understanding of the interactions of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus at temporal and spatial scales for relevant for the Earth System. To accomplish this goal, the group develops and employs numerical models of terrestrial biosphere processes, and uses observational constraints obtained from biosphere monitoring or ecosystem manipulation to challenge model formulations. An improved representation of key (eco-physiological) processes, in particular those affecting nutrient availability and its role in ecosystem dynamics, is a key component of the group's research. The group investigates the consequences of the coupling of the terrestrial biogeochemical cycles for biogeochemical and biogeophysical interactions with the climate system. [more]