Climate Theory

The Climate Theory group at the Niels Bohr Institute is engaged in understanding the Earth's climate. The surface temperature on the planet depends on solar radiation, composition of the atmosphere, heat flow in the atmosphere and oceans, ice masses and many other factors.

Many fundamental questions regarding the behavior of this complex system are still unsolved. In the group we investigate how the temporal variability that emerges in the coupled Earth system can be described, explained and predicted within the frameworks of dynamical systems theory and theoretical physics.

A specific focus are tipping points and rapid climate transitions, which are investigated both from a modelling perspective, a dynamical systems view and through analysis of paleoclimatic records.

Further, fundamental research in turbulence, multi scale processes, bifurcation theory, critical transitions and complex systems is conducted.

The group is highly connected in the international community through leadership of the H2020 project TiPES and the Innovative Training Network CriticalEarth involving approximately 20 leading European Universities and research institutions.