Understanding of the earth system – its functions, how it has changed in the past, and how it is expected to evolve in the future - requires the development and use of sophisticated numerical earth system models (ESM) that can assess, for example, the response of the global environment (climate system, air quality, vegetation, ocean, etc.) to human perturbations. The Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg is committed to develop such a comprehensive integrated Earth system model. Related activities are taking place at the University of Hamburg, especially in the Centre of Marine and Climate Research (ZMK). Economists at the University of Hamburg have considerable experience in building coupled environment-economy models and were very instrumental in developing the first generation of integrated models of climate change. The Institute of Coastal Research (IfK) at the GKSS Research Centre, on the other hand, is engaged in building Regional Environmental System Models (RUMs) which allow for the regional assessment of changing climate and fluxes of matter, with special emphasis on coastal regions.

The successful use of ESMs requires a stable and reliable hardware and software infrastructure that is accessible to a wide community. This includes a supercomputing facility with an extremely powerful computing and data system and associated networking, post-processing and visualisation systems, as well as an efficient support for software development, including code optimisation. Provision of this infrastructure requires large investments, both in IT systems and software engineering.

In Germany, the supercomputing and data handling capabilities for Earth system modelling as well as all associated services are provided by two national facilities, both located in Hamburg:

The Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum GmbH (DKRZ)

DKRZ provides a top-of-the line high-performance Supercomputer dedicated to climate and Earth system modelling –composed of 24 NEC SX-6 parallel vector computer nodes- with associated services such as advanced visualisation capability.

The Model and Data Group (M&D)

M&D supports the German and European earth system research community with respect to scientific data management. This group also provides support to run extended integrations with climate models, and archives and distributes the results.

The group was recognised by the International Council of Science (ICSU), as a World Data Centre for Climate Data (WDCC).

The Alliance of the Centre of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, the ZMAW has been jointly established in 2003 by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science and the University of Hamburg. The new centre brings together and strengthens the already well-known expertise in the marine, climate and Earth system research in the region of Hamburg. The ZMAW becomes an essential part inside a center of excellence, which is dedicated to solve the urgent scientific questions related to Climate research.

Library and Information Service (BIS)

The Library and Information Service (BIS) is part of the common infrastructure of the Centre for Marine and Atmospheric Research (ZMAW, see 04.4.2.3). The total number of volumes is estimated around 40.000-45.000, with about 180 journals and series in many cases also available online. The main task is to provide scientific literature in printed or electronic form covering the main research areas to the ZMAW staff and also external users. Offering various methods for search and acquisition of scientific information 2 full-time librarians (1 MPI-M, 1 University of Hamburg) and student workers support the users getting the required information, either from own holdings or by interlibrary loan. Support is also provided to use the different databases, catalogues and online journals properly.