Improved projections of wind strength and direction by testing climate models using seasonal climate reconstructions

Large-scale weather patterns have strong impact on wind strength and direction. It has been proposed that weather patterns will change due to global warming. However, it is difficult to attribute short-term change in weather to climate change due to the comparable short period of instrumental observations.

We will combine geological archives, with climate model output to develop unique seasonally resolved climate field reconstructions for the North Atlantic region with unprecedented skill. Using this baseline of weather patterns covering the past millennium the projekt will: I) Investigate if recent observed weather patterns have changed compared to the preindustrial period.

II) Evaluate state-of-the-art climate models in terms of skill in reproducing past and present weather and wind patterns. III) Provide future scenarios with maps of wind strength and direction using the best performing models assessed in II.