13.11.2008 Helmholtz Head Office

Local effects of climate change

Berlin, 13 November 2008 – Six Helmholtz Research Centres have launched the most extensive investigation ever into the long-term effects of climate change at the regional level. Called TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories), the joint collaboration project will establish four observatories in Germany for scientists to study how climate change affects both the local ecosystem and the local economy. The data gathered over the course of the project will be used to develop better prediction models and new methods of adapting to climate change. The Helmholtz Association is providing €12 million to fund the project.

What are the tangible effects of climate change on specific regions and on their ecosystems, in particular? “Until now we have not had sufficient empirical data or a network of observatories that could document changes over a long period of time,” says Prof. Harry Vereecken of Forschungszentrum Jülich, who is coordinating the project. Now six Helmholtz Centres − in addition to Forschungszentrum Jülich, the German Aerospace Center, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Helmholtz Zentrum München, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, and the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ - German Research Centre for Geosciences are participating in the project – will fill that gap with TERENO. The four observatories established for the project will use methods from environmental technology, geophysics and remote sensing to gather and analyse data on climate, water and soil quality, vegetation and biological diversity. Collected over a long period of time, the measurements will be used to record exchange processes and feedback mechanisms in the soil-vegetation-climate system and ultimately to determine the consequences of climate change and develop new process-oriented prediction models.

Each of the four observatories covers a specific area with distinct characteristics. The Lower Rhine Valley / Eifel region in western Germany is urbanised with heavily-farmed land and open pit mines. The Leipzig / Halle metropolitan region features low mountain forests, lowland riparian forests, extensive agricultural areas, urban and industrial areas as well as open pit mines. The Bavarian Alps / Alpine Foothills region is unusual for its different climate zones, which result from large differences in elevation over very short distances. Since this area is used for agriculture, forestry and tourism, even small climatic changes can have serious ecological and economic repercussions. The German Lowland observatory in the northeast of the country includes Müritz National Park, the Schorfheide-Chorin biosphere reserve and the Uecker River drainage area. This region is increasingly characterised by periods of drought that threaten to dry up its low-lying wetlands.

For more information, please visit http://www.tereno.net/

The Helmholtz Association contributes to solving major challenges facing society, science and the economy with top scientific achievements in six research fields: Energy, Earth and Environment, Health, Key Technologies, Structure of Matter, Transport and Space. With 28.000 employees in 15 research centres and an annual budget of approximately 2.4 billion euros, the Helmholtz Association is Germany’s largest scientific organisation. Its work follows in the tradition of the great natural scientist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894).