PIER Climate and Coast

Climate change resulting from human activity causes risks to ecosystems and people and brings about an unavoidable increase in numerous different climate-related dangers. At the same time, there is also a wide range of potentially attractive solutions. The aim of PIER Climate and Coast is to strengthen the solution-oriented communication of research results in Hamburg and to promote transformative research into the conditions that are necessary for building a resilient, climate-neutral society.

true

Overview

All PIER PLUS partners of the profile

Collaborative research

Questions about global climate change, its complex and cascading consequences, and corresponding solutions can only be researched from a range of different perspectives. Consequently, interdisciplinary climate research in Hamburg is conducted on the basis of diverse and long-standing partnerships between universities and research institutes: academics from the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences work together in academic working groups and research projects, including the Climate, Climatic Change and Society (CLICCS) cluster of excellence, to investigate the causes and consequences of climate change.

Efficient networks

In order to draw on the wide-ranging collaboration taking place in Hamburg, the lead partners Universität Hamburg and Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon have joined forces with Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) to form the framework for PIER Climate and Coast. The profile’s activities are also anchored in the existing KlimaCampus Hamburg network.

Research activities

Adaptation scenarios cities

^{Photo: Pixabay}

Sustainable adaptation scenarios for urban areas—water from four sides

To develop and evaluate sustainable adaptation scenarios for cities, researchers analyze how the 4 climate-induced stress factors—rising groundwater levels, storm surges, river flooding, and flash floods—attack urban societies with extreme precipitation events and how these threats are perceived.

C1 website

Adaptation scenarios coastal systems

^{Photo: Pixabay}

Sustainable adaptation scenarios for coastal systems

Project C3 focuses on climate change and climate adaptability using extensive interview-based studies with a focus on 3 empirical fields: nature-based coastal protection, crab fishing, and eutrophication in the Elbe estuary. Furthermore, innovative modeling tools (including for estuary systems) are being developed.

C3 website

TideelbeKlima

^{Photo: Pixabay}

TideelbeKlima

Against the backdrop climate changes effects, TideelbeKlima looks at flood protection options in the Elbe tidal region. Nuanced evaluations will be used to develop forward-looking options for action that can then be consolidated and compared between and across disciplines.

TideelbeKlima website (German only)

sustainMARE

^{Photo: Pixabay}

The DAM research missions: sustainMARE

With a view to the North and Baltic Seas, 7 collaborative projects involving 28 research institutions will look at diverse factors such as shipping, energy production, and environmental pollution. The goal is to develop sustainable use strategies and improve the state of marine ecosystems.

sustainMARE website

Transregio TRR 181

^{Photo: Pixabay}

Transregio TRR 181

This interdisciplinary project looks at the often still unexplained energy transmission between waves, eddies, and turbulence with the help of oceanography, meteorology, and mathematics for the purpose of developing energetically consistent mathematical models and precise climate analyses and prognoses.

Transregio TRR 181 website

CoSynHealth

^{Photo: Pixabay}

CoSynHealth

To ensure that health aspects in the transformation to Co2-neutral cities are also taken into consideration, doctoral and early career researchers are developing climate-service tools for urban planning and the health sector with their project on global change, the climate, environment, and health.

CoSynHealth website

CLIMABOROUGH

^{Photo: Pixabay}

CLIMABOROUGH

This EU-funded project closes the gap between theory and practice arising from the challenges of climate change when it comes to urban innovations. Climate Sandbox, Climhub, and Climate Service are 3 concepts currently being tested and developed.

CLIMABOROUGH website

Integrated Earth System Research

^{Photo: Pixabay}

Integrated Earth System Research—Leibniz research network

Against the backdrop of anthropogenic factors impacting the geological, biological, and atmospheric processes of Earth, this interdisciplinary research network is developing innovative principles of integrated Earth systems research. It focuses on findings about people in the Earth system that can be relevant to taking action.

iESF website

SAGE Centre

^{Photo: Pixabay}

SAGE Centre: Sustainable Adaptation to Global Change in the Middle East

The SAGE climate and environment center fosters multilateral scientific cooperation and transdisciplinary co-creation for the purpose of supporting societies in the Middle East with the development and realization of science-based, adaptive, and sustainable resource management.

SAGE Centre website