PhD course on Regional climate modelling and its use for impacts research

Climate models are important tools for assessing the impacts of probable climate change on human and natural systems and hence in terms of adaptation to a future climate. Informed decision-making based on climate change information, however, requires a good understanding of the fundamental principles of climate and climate impact models, including large inherent uncertainties.

This PhD course, which is arranged jointly by CRES, the FIVA International Research School of Water Resources, and the HYACINTS project, will address how information based on regional climate models (RCM) may be used for assessing the impacts of climate change, e.g. as input to environmental and socio-economical models. The course will provide a thorough introduction to global and regional climate modelling, presenting the participants with an overview of state-of-the-art. Moreover, the students will be exposed to dedicated theoretical and practical sessions relating to the following key areas

• Regional projections and their use in impact assessments
• Model ensembles and ensemble techniques
• Uncertainties in regional projections and impact assessments
• Communicating uncertainties

The target group for the course is PhD students working with regional climate modelling or impacts research in relation to climate change. In addition, young researchers and professionals with interest in the topic may also benefit from following the course.

Where and when

May 9 2011 - May 13 2011 at the Danish Meteorological Institute, Lyngbyvej 100, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Lecturers and instructors

• Professor William Gutowski, Iowa State University, USA
• Professor Daniel Caya, Ouranos, Montreal, Canada
• Professor Markku Rummukainen, Lund University and Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Sweden
• Professor Tim Carter, Finnish Environment Institute, Finland
• Dr. Melissa Bukovski, National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA
• Professor Eigil Kaas, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Professor Jens Christian Refsgaard, GEUS, Denmark
• Dr. Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen, Danish Meteorological Institute, Denmark
• Dr. Martin Drews, Danish Meteorological Institute, Denmark

 Organizers

• Dr. Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen (email: jhc AT dmi.dk)
• Dr. Martin Drews (email: mad AT dmi.dk)
• Professor Jens Christian Refsgaard (email: jcr AT geus.dk)
• Frederik Uldall (email: fu AT geo.ku.dk)

Course participants

The course is limited to 25 participants. In selecting course participants from the applicants, first priority will be given to PhD students, and second priorities to post docs. If not filled by these two groups, professionals working in the subject area will be free to participate.

Course material

A list of suggested reading will be made available on the course home page before the start of the course. Students are encouraged to read this material beforehand. Additional course material will be made available during the course.

ECTS

The course will give 5 ECTS credits. This assumes that students have read some material beforehand (see above) and participates actively in carrying out the group assignments during the course.