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03.11.2025 13:56

Improving cloud modelling using algorithmic methods

Gabriele Meseg-Rutzen Kommunikation und Marketing
Universität zu Köln

    The German Research Foundation (DFG) will fund a Reinhart Koselleck project at the University of Cologne with 1.25 million euros over five years / The project combines computer science and meteorology to improve cloud modelling and enhance our understanding of climate change

    The German Research Foundation (DFG) has granted funding for a joint Reinhart Koselleck project involving two researchers from the University of Cologne: Professor Dr Susanne Crewell from the Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology and Professor Dr Christian Sohler from the Institute of Computer Science. Over a period of five years, the project ‘Sublinear algorithms for meteorology ’ aims to explore how advanced algorithmic methods from computer science can be further developed to analyse large-scale meteorological datasets and improve cloud modelling. The research project will receive 1.25 million euros in funding. Reinhart Koselleck Projects are awarded exclusively to outstanding researchers with a proven scientific track record to pursue exceptionally innovative and higher-risk research projects.

    Clouds represent a major uncertainty factor in climate modelling, as their response to climate change is still not well understood, even though they can exert a substantial influence on it. Because clouds vary greatly in both space and time, analysing and understanding the associated processes requires processing vast amounts of data, for instance from satellite observations. Efficient processing of the enormous volumes of data currently represents a major challenge.

    The theory of algorithms provides approaches for analysing very large datasets, but these are typically studied in the context of idealized problems that cannot be directly applied to cloud modelling. Adapting and further developing such methods for practical questions in meteorology – as well as the meteorological analysis of the resulting data – requires highly interdisciplinary collaboration. In the new research project, data reduction methods (so-called coresets) in particular are to be further developed and analysed both theoretically and experimentally for analysis in the context of meteorological data. Using these methods, cloud observations are first pre-processed and then further analysed to address meteorological questions concerning the organization and trends of cloud cover.
    The resulting innovative new approaches are designed to combine research in computer science and meteorology, with the goal of advancing our long-term understanding of climate change.

    Press and Communications Team:
    Jan Voelkel
    +49 221 470 2356
    j.voelkel@verw.uni-koeln.de

    Press Spokesperson: Dr Elisabeth Hoffmann – e.hoffmann@verw.uni-koeln.de


    Wissenschaftliche Ansprechpartner:

    Professor Dr Susanne Crewell
    Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology
    +49 221 470 5286
    susanne.crewell@uni-koeln.de

    Professor Dr Christian Sohler
    Institute of Computer Science
    +49 221 470 76593
    sohler@cs.uni-koeln.de


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