profile of the chair

Flyer: Continents under Climate Change Conference on the Occasion of the 200th Anniversary of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (PDF 1,5MB)

The following relevant scientific issues are in the focus of the Chair Geography of Climates and Environmental Climatology.

The study programme of this professorship includes on the bachelor level (BSc Geography) a large number of lectures on climatology (including General Climatology, Regional Climatology and Climate Change) and regional geography (especially Physical Geography of Germany and Regional Geography of South America).

On the master level (MSc Geography of Large Cities and Metropolitan Areas – Physical Geography, Environment and Nature) education and training are centered on urban climate and climate change, urban ecology and air quality. Close cooperation exist with the Dept. of Geomatics and the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research (www.pik-potsdam.de).

Research activities are focused on urban climate, climate change and health issues, and air pollution by particulate matter. In Berlin, climate measurements are carried out on the Adlershof campus and in downtown near Friedrichstraße (as well as in Warsaw, Poland). Most of the local projects are imbedded in the interdisciplinary Research and Training Programme (RTP 780) Perspectives of Urban Ecology of the German Research Foundation; (www.stadtoekologie-berlin.de; 2002-2011, chair has the function of the speaker). For more detailed information on the Berlin research projects see also the home pages of Marcel Langner, Thomas Draheim, Katharina Gabriel, Uta Wolf-Benning, Johannes Max and Anja Pagenkopf.

International cooperation has been established with several research institutions in Argentina during the DFG project Buenos Aires Research on Urban Climate and Air Quality (BARUCA; www.ivd.uni-stuttgart.de/baruca/; chair has the function of the PI; 2005-2009).

Within the framework of the DFG priority programme 1233 Megacities – Megachallenge: Informal Dynamics of Global Change the project “Exposure to heat waves and air pollution as well as the use of renewable energy resources” started in 2007 in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. This project is part of the Institute’s integrated DHAKA-INNOVATE project on informal settlements, economic and environmental change, and public health with the participation of the chairs Climatology, Economic Geography and Geomatics (priority programme).

In research and teaching, a broad spectrum of methods is applied including stationary and mobile climate measurements, laboratory analysis of particulate matter and polluted air, climate data analysis, and the basics of climate modelling. The Dept. of Climatology is in charge of the climate measurement field on the Adlershof campus (including the measurements on the top of the Institute Tower). Actual Adlershof weather data are displayed on the webside of the Institute of Geography. The Dept. of Climatology has a climate measurement car and cares for the Phenological Garden in the Landscape Park Johannisthal-Adlershof.

Further Links

• Arbeitskreis Klima der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geographie (www.akklima.de)
• DFG priority programme 1233 Megacities - Megachallenge (www.geographie.uni-koeln.de/megacities-spp/)
• German Environment Information Network (www.portalu.de)
• Landschaftspark Johannisthal-Adlershof (www.foerderverein-landschaftspark.de)
• Association Internationale de Climatologie (www.acara.be/AIC/)
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (www.ipcc.ch)
• Federal Environment Agency (www.umweltbundesamt.de/)