Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

About: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is a facility organization based out in Potsdam, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Climate change & Global warming. The organization has 1519 authors who have published 5098 publications receiving 367023 citations.

Consistent evidence of increasing Antarctic accumulation with warming

Abstract: As the atmosphere warms it can hold more water so precipitation is expected to increase. This study uses palaeoclimate data and modelling results to investigate what this means for Antarctic mass balance and sea-level rise, as more snowfall will increase the water stored as ice on the continent.

Phase separation, brine formation, and salinity variation at Black Smoker hydrothermal systems

Abstract: [1] We present the first fully transient 2-D numerical simulations of black smoker hydrothermal systems using realistic fluid properties and allowing for all phase transitions possible in the system H2O-NaCl, including phase separation of convecting seawater into a low-salinity vapor and high-salinity brine. We investigate convection, multiphase flow, and phase segregation at pressures below, near, and above the critical point of seawater. Our simulations accurately predict the range in vent salinities, from 0.05 to 2.5 times seawater salinity measured at natural systems. In low-pressure systems at ∼1500 m water depth, phase separation occurs in boiling zones stretching from the bottom of the hydrothermal cell to the seafloor. Low-salinity vapors and high-salinity brines can vent simultaneously, and transient variations in vent fluid salinities can be rapid. In high-pressure systems at roughly ∼3500 m water depth, phase separation is limited to the region close to the underlying magma chamber, and vent fluids consist of a low-salinity vapor mixed with a seawater-like fluid. Therefore, vent salinities from these systems are much more uniform in time and always below seawater salinity as long as phase separation occurs in the subseafloor. Only by shutting down the heat source can, in the high-pressure case, the brine be mined, resulting in larger than seawater salinities. These numerical results are in good agreement with long-term observations from several natural black smoker systems.

The changing role of nation states in international environmental assessments—the case of the IPCC

Abstract: In 1988, the incoming head of one of the most prominent scientific assessment bodies, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), explained: “Right now, many countries, especially developing countries, simply do not trust assessments in which their scientists and policymakers have not participated.” Since then, the international community gathered significant experience in designing and organising international assessments that allow for broad participation by representatives of national governments and influence domestic and international policy making. By analysing the case study of the IPCC, the paper focuses on the role of individual nation states played in international assessments and how this role changed over time and why. It is shown that there is a tendency of increasing internationalisation in the field of climate research and climate policy that limits the specific influence of individual nation states. The study of the internal processes of the IPCC reveals a growth of internal dynamics that built up boundaries for the behaviour of individual actors (such as government representatives and scientists). However, over the years the actors involved also learned how to use the IPCC mechanisms more effectively.

The Carbon Dioxide Removal Model Intercomparison Project (CDRMIP): rationale and experimental protocol for CMIP6

Abstract: . The recent IPCC reports state that continued anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are changing the climate, threatening severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts. Slow progress in emissions reduction to mitigate climate change is resulting in increased attention to what is called geoengineering, climate engineering, or climate intervention – deliberate interventions to counter climate change that seek to either modify the Earth's radiation budget or remove greenhouse gases such as CO2 from the atmosphere. When focused on CO2, the latter of these categories is called carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Future emission scenarios that stay well below 2 °C, and all emission scenarios that do not exceed 1.5 °C warming by the year 2100, require some form of CDR. At present, there is little consensus on the climate impacts and atmospheric CO2 reduction efficacy of the different types of proposed CDR. To address this need, the Carbon Dioxide Removal Model Intercomparison Project (or CDRMIP) was initiated. This project brings together models of the Earth system in a common framework to explore the potential, impacts, and challenges of CDR. Here, we describe the first set of CDRMIP experiments, which are formally part of the 6th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). These experiments are designed to address questions concerning CDR-induced climate reversibility , the response of the Earth system to direct atmospheric CO2 removal (direct air capture and storage), and the CDR potential and impacts of afforestation and reforestation, as well as ocean alkalinization.>

Water Resilience for Human Prosperity

Abstract: The world's human population now constitutes the largest driving force of changes to the biosphere. Emerging water challenges require new ideas for governance and management of water resources in the context of rapid global change. This book presents a new approach to water resources, addressing global sustainability and focusing on socio-ecological resilience to changes. Topics covered include the risks of unexpected change, human impacts and dependence on global water, the prospects for feeding the world's population by 2050, and a pathway for the future. The book's innovative and integrated approach links green and blue freshwater with terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem functions and use. It also links changes arising from land-use alteration with the impacts of those changes on social-ecological systems and ecosystem services. This is an important, state-of-the-art resource for academic researchers and water resource professionals, and a key reference for graduate students studying water resource governance and management.