Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum

Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum
Name	Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum
Established	1987
Type	Research Infrastructure
Location	Hamburg, Germany

Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum

The Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum is a German climate computing centre that provides high-performance computing and data services for climate science, meteorology, and earth system research. It supports numerical modelling, observational data archiving, and interinstitutional projects, serving partners across Europe and internationally. The centre interfaces with national laboratories, international programmes, and academic institutes to advance climate simulation, reanalysis, and impact assessment.

Overview

The centre operates as a national facility connecting institutions such as the Max Planck Society, Helmholtz Association, Fraunhofer Society, Leibniz Association, and universities including University of Hamburg, Free University of Berlin, Technical University of Munich, Heidelberg University, and University of Bonn. It collaborates with international organisations like the World Meteorological Organization, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Copernicus Programme, and European Space Agency. The centre supports projects funded by agencies such as the German Research Foundation, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, European Commission, Horizon 2020, and Horizon Europe. It provides services to research groups engaged with programmes like CMIP, CORDEX, SPARC, GEWEX, CLIVAR, WCRP, and EMEP.

History

Established in 1987, the institution's development tracks advances in computing architectures pioneered by entities such as IBM, Cray Research, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, and later Intel and AMD. Early collaborations included climate modelling groups at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, UK Met Office, National Center for Atmospheric Research, EUMETSAT, and NASA. Over time it integrated workflows from initiatives like ERA-Interim, ERA5, CMIP5, and CMIP6. The centre evolved alongside grid and cloud efforts influenced by Globus Toolkit, OpenStack, European Grid Infrastructure, and later Copernicus Climate Change Service developments. Its archives and compute enhancements were shaped by partnerships with supercomputing centres such as Jülich Research Centre, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, HLRS, and Cineca.

Infrastructure and Services

The infrastructure comprises high-performance computing clusters, large-scale storage arrays, data management platforms, and network links to nodes like GÉANT, DFN, PRACE, and national research networks. Hardware generations reflect procurement from vendors such as HPE, Dell EMC, Lenovo, NVIDIA, and ARM. Software stacks include operating systems and tools from Linux Foundation projects, workflow managers inspired by SLURM, PBS, and container technologies like Docker and Kubernetes. Services include archive curation for datasets akin to HadCRUT, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, ECMWF Reanalysis, and observational networks such as ICOS, GCOS, GLOSS, and Argo. The centre provides user support mirroring practices at Met Office Hadley Centre, NCAR, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and Stockholm Environment Institute.

Research and Collaborations

Research facilitated includes coupled atmosphere–ocean modelling with groups at Geomar, MPI for Meteorology, Alfred Wegener Institute, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and UK Met Office. Collaborative projects span European consortia like PRIMAVERA, IS-ENES, EuroSea, EERA-Climate, and global initiatives involving NOAA, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, CSIRO, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, and Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis. The centre supports interdisciplinary links to European Environment Agency, UNFCCC, World Bank, OECD, and United Nations University assessments. Scientific output relates to topics explored at IPCC Working Group I, Potsdam Institute, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Marine Biological Association, and National Oceanography Centre.

Data and Computational Resources

The centre hosts petabyte-scale archives for climate model output, observational syntheses, and reanalysis datasets used by researchers at ETH Zurich, Imperial College London, Columbia University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley. It integrates data formats and services compliant with standards from CF Conventions, NetCDF, OpenDAP, and OGC, and interconnects with repositories such as PANGAEA, Zenodo, and DataCite registries. Computational resources support ensemble experiments from groups contributing to CMIP6, radiative transfer studies from Atmospheric Radiation Measurement, and ocean model intercomparisons from CMIP-OMIP contributors. The centre implements data stewardship principles advocated by FAIR Data Principles and workflows compatible with tools developed by UCAR, Met Office, and NOAA ESRL.

Governance and Funding

Governance involves stakeholders from research institutions like Max Planck Institute, Helmholtz Centre Hereon, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, and universities represented on advisory boards similar to models used by European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures and Science Europe. Funding streams combine national allocations from ministries including Federal Ministry of Education and Research and European grants from Horizon Europe and infrastructure schemes administered through European Research Council mechanisms and consortiums such as EUDAT. Procurement and contractual relationships reference procurement practices familiar to European Investment Bank–funded projects and public research facilities like CERN and EMBL.

Outreach and Education

Outreach activities engage educational and public partners such as German Climate Consortium, Climate-KIC, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and museums including Deutsches Museum and KlimaMuseum. Training programmes are run with universities and summer schools modeled after European Geosciences Union workshops, World Climate Research Programme training, and capacity building initiatives similar to offerings from IPCC and UNESCO. The centre supports data portals and visualization efforts inspired by Copernicus Climate Data Store, NASA Worldview, and educational collaborations with institutions like Zentrum für Marine Umweltwissenschaften and Alfred Wegener Institute outreach units.

Category:Climate research Category:Research infrastructures in Germany