In August 2023 I started as Professor for modeling the carbon cycle in the Earth system at Universität Hamburg - joining an exceptional setting of climate research and teaching at the Department of Earth system sciences of the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences and starting the new department 'Earth system modeling' at Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon. I also lead the Ocean Biogeochemistry Group at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Learn more about my research plans here.

Ongoing climate change is essentially a CO2 problem. It can only be solved by strong decarbonization measures drastically cutting CO2 emissions. Thereby there are fundamental uncertainties in our understanding of how the carbon cycle and feedbacks change. I directly address this one of the most pressing problems of our time through my research. My research interests lie primarily in the area of the ocean carbon cycle, its variability and predictability on decadal time-scales, as well as its impacts on Earth’s climate via the climate-carbon-cycle feedbacks on centennial to millennial time-scales.

My research philosophy has been to address these topics with Earth system models (ESMs) enabled by interactive carbon cycle. In this way, variations in atmospheric CO2 concentration are computed prognostically and are directly modulated by the land and ocean carbon sinks. By resolving carbon-climate feedbacks, such approach enhances the realism of ESM simulations and better informs on their uncertainties. It furthermore allows computing how climate and carbon sinks respond to changing emissions during decarbonization and provide a direct link between policy changes and the Earth system.

Together with research students and post-docs in my group, as well as with external collaborators, I address knowledge gaps in our understanding of the following research questions:

• How does the ocean carbon sink respond to rapid climate change events?

• What are predictability horisons for the natural carbon sinks and atmospheric CO2 growth?

• What is the role of internal climate variability on the ocean carbon sink?

• How meso- and submeso-scale processes in the ocean impact on the ocean carbon sink?

• How did changes in ocean circulation shape the carbon cycle during ancient warmings and the last glacial cycle?

• What are the impacts of artificial ocean alkalinity enhancement in the Earth system?

I contribute to advancing the international climate science as co-Chair of the Working Group on Coupled Modeling of the World Climate Research Programme.

I am actively recruiting PhD and MSc students, as well as postdoctoral researchers under the broad themes listed above. Specific projects are usually advertised separately. Do not hesitate to get in touch to discuss potential projects!

Ongoing recruitment opportunities in my group

Postdoctoral | Research Associate in the Project "ICON-4C4M-O" developing the ocean carbon cycle component of an emission-driven ICON Earth system model

Postdoctoral | Research Associate in the Project "PalMod" examining the response of the ocean carbon storage to abrupt events during the last deglaciation

PhD | Doctoral Candidate investigating mechanisms of predictability of compound extreme events in the ocean and their effects on the carbon sink and biogeochemical cycles