Environmental modelling in the climate system

The effects of climate change and air pollution have become almost daily
phenomena of our everyday life. In order to understand the associated processes and to be able to analyse connections and interactions, complex computer models of our climate system are needed in addition to extensive measurements. With the help of these tools, one can investigate global environmental problems such as air pollution from anthropogenic emission sources (e.g. power plants or car exhaust), but also clarify questions of air purity on regional to local scales.
The research focus of Professor Dr. Tost is less on climate-affecting,
long-lived greenhouse gases such as CO2, but on short-lived trace substances such as gaseous air pollutants and fine dust. In order to be able to characterise anthropogenic influences, the natural system and its variability must be studied in detail. However, since our climate system does not
only consist of the atmosphere, but also includes oceans, land masses and the biosphere, environmental and climate modelling has developed into a highly interdisciplinary field that combines findings from the individual components of our Earth system with modern methods of numerical mathematics and computer science.