Researcher Spotlight: Simon Schäfers - Ocean–Atmosphere Coupling in Climate Models

In this interview, he takes us from experiencing the atmosphere and the ocean every day to the core questions driving his research: Which processes shape what we see? How do these processes interact across scales? And how well can climate models capture these complex, non-linear dynamics? 

What motivates you to work in this field?  

“Every day you witness the atmosphere, if you are lucky and you are at the shore, you see the ocean too. I think everyone gets excited once in a while when they notice how blue the sky can be, how clouds build up into giant thunderstorms, or how waves breaking at the shore can be totally different from one day to the next. 

I get excited too and want to know more: What leads to the phenomenon we are seeing? Which conditions have to persist, and which processes are involved? How well can we predict it, and does it have an impact beyond catching our eye? What would our world’s climate be like if this phenomenon did not exist? Would this phenomenon change in a warmer climate?” 

How has your background and career path shaped your approach to climate science? 

"After a small detour to mechanical engineering, I found that just creating without understanding oftentimes not properly solves the problem and might even create new ones. In consequence, I started studying ocean and climate physics and got in touch with ocean and atmosphere interaction during my Bachelor’s thesis when analysing the impact of sea surface temperature patterns on the predictability of the North Atlantic Oscillation, a state of the atmosphere over Europe and North America. If positive, Central Europe is likely to experience wet and mild winters, if negative, winters will likely be dry and cold.  In my Master’s degree, I focused on process understanding when estimating the impact of eddies on the transport of water masses. Eddies describe anomalies of a flow field. In the ocean, eddies are typically vortex-like structures that encapsule warm/cold water and tracers. Having spent much time with ocean and climate models, I am eager to explore how well they can resolve and help to understand the complex, non-linear interactions of the real world."

What are your primary research interests?  

"My primary research interest is the exchange between ocean and atmosphere in climate models across different scales. The coupling between these two parts of the model is crucial to estimate the long-term evolution of our climate system, as large-scale ocean movement and heat uptake is forced by the atmosphere, while likewise the ocean influences the atmosphere in the evolution of weather systems and climate modes. I work on diagnosing how well climate models represent these exchange processes across coupling schemes, which describes how atmosphere and ocean are tied together in the model, and resolutions.  The grid resolution describes the distance between the nodes of a model, likewise to the resolution of an image, the higher the resolution, the more details can be computed by the model."

What do you believe are the most pressing challenges in climate science today, and how does your work contribute to addressing them?  

"Clearly, the community of climate sciences has enough evidence, that increased carbon emissions threaten the stability of society on a global scale. The most pressing challenge now, in my opinion, lies beyond the acquisition of knowledge but in maintaining and further developing society’s trust in science and governance. For me, part of that involves subjecting people to complexity and uncertainty to present a realistic picture of science. At the same time, it is important to confront unscientific worldviews at every level, as they are a root of illiberalism. With my work, investigating uncertainty and complexity of the models that predict our future climate, I contribute to the former, while the latter requires collective effort."

How does collaboration across different institutions and disciplines enhance the impact of your research? 

"Climate models are a joint effort. While some research units continuously work on improving single model components, others stitch these together in a physically plausible matter. This is work that I rely on when analysing different climate model configurations. For the analysis, I benefit from the development of novel filtering approaches and theoretical frameworks carried out by others within the TRR181 and beyond."

What advice would you give to students or young researchers interested in pursuing a career in climate sciences? 

"Embrace the uncertainty! You will encounter so many things that you don’t know of haven’t understood fully, even at times when you feel you should have already. Don’t be shy to ask and to discuss, it is the best way to learnand to build confidence. Science should not be the space of gatekeeping and hierarchy, and we have to understand that science is not an abstract entity, but a community that we ourselves create."

What is the best way to connect with you for potential research collaboration?  

"Just write me an E-mail! sschaefers@geomar.de."