Thomas Kleinen
Office
Email: thomas.kleinen@zmaw.de
Phone: +49-40-41173-140
Fax: +49-40-41173-350
Room no. G1714
Mailing Address
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
Bundesstr. 53
D-20146 Hamburg
Germany
Department
Research Group
Research Interests
Currently I am working in land carbon cycle modelling. Together with Victor Brovkin I am investigating peat accumulation in the high northern latitudes during the Holocene, as well as during previous interglacials.
This investigation is part of the project COIN (Comparison of Interglacials), which is funded by the DFG.
For this project, I am implementing a representation of wetland hydrology, as well as a model of peat accumulation and decomposition into the DGVM LPJ.
Previously, I was a senior research associate at the Climatic Research Unit, where I collaborated with Tim Osborn and Keith Briffa in an investigation of the climate of the little ice age.
We performed a sensitivity study with the GCM HadCM3, which we forced by various candidate mechanisms (negative NAO, decrease in radiative forcing, slowdown of the MOC), in order to find out how the climate produced by these mechanisms compares to palaeodata.
My PhD at the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research was on the detection of critical thresholds in the climate system, as well as the consideration of uncertainty in the integrated assessment of climate change by stochastic methods.
A short list of things I'm interested in:
- The land carbon cycle
- Assimilation of palaeodata into GCMs
- The meridional overturning circulation
- Nonlinear thresholds in the climate system, in ecosystems or in the socioeconomic system
- Indicators for thresholds: Quantities, available from measurement data, that allow a prediction of the distance to the threshold
- Integrated assessment of climate change
- consideration of uncertainty
- nonlinear, conceptual models of the climate system
- stochastic dynamical systems, as applied to the climate system
- changes in probabilities of extreme events
Publications
V. Varma, M. Prange, U. Merkel, T. Kleinen, G. Lohmann, M. Pfeiffer, H. Renssen, A. Wagner, S. Wagner, and M. Schulz (2012): Holocene Evolution of the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds in Transient Simulations with Global Climate Models. Climate of the Past, 8, 391-402. doi:10.5194/cp-8-391-2012
V. Brovkin, P. M. van Bodegom, T. Kleinen, C. Wirth, W. Cornwell, H. Cornelissen, and J. Kattge (2012): Plant-driven variation in decomposition rates improves projections of global litter stock distribution. Biogeosciences, 9, 565-576. doi:10.5194/bg-9-565-2012
www.biogeosciences.net/9/565/2012
Thomas Kleinen, Victor Brovkin, and Robert J. Schuldt (2012): A dynamic model of wetland extent and peat accumulation: Results for the Holocene. Biogeosciences, 9, 235-248. doi:10.5194/bg-9-235-2012
www.biogeosciences.net/9/235/2012
Claudia Timmreck, Hans-F. Graf, Davide Zanchettin, Stefan Hagemann, Thomas Kleinen and Kirstin Krüger (2012): Climate response to the Toba super-eruption: regional changes. Quaternary International, 258, 30-44. DOI 10.1016/j.quaint.2011.10.008
T. Kleinen, P. Tarasov, V. Brovkin, A. Andreev, and M. Stebich (2011): Comparison of modeled and reconstructed changes in forest cover through the past 8000 years: Eurasian perspective. The Holocene, 21 (5), 723-734. DOI 10.1177/0959683610386980
V. Palastanga, G. van der Schrier, S. L. Weber, T. Kleinen, K. R. Briffa and T. J. Osborn (2011): Atmosphere and ocean dynamics: contributors to the European Little Ice Age? Climate Dynamics, 36 (5-6), 973-987. DOI 10.1007/s00382-010-0751-0.
Thomas Kleinen, Victor Brovkin, Werner von Bloh, David Archer, and Guy Munhoven (2010): Holocene carbon cycle dynamics. Geophysical Research Letters, 37, L02705, DOI 10.1029/2009GL041391.
The last draft can be downloaded here:
download
Thomas Kleinen, Timothy J. Osborn, and Keith R. Briffa (2009): Sensitivity of climate response to changes in freshwater hosing location. Ocean Dynamics, 59(3), 509-521, DOI 10.1007/s10236-009-0189-2.download
Thomas Kleinen, Gerhard Petschel-Held, and Thomas Bruckner (2007):
The Probabilistic Tolerable Windows Approach
submitted to Climatic Change.
download
Thomas Kleinen and Gerhard Petschel-Held (2007):
Integrated assessment of changes in flooding probabilities due to climate change.
Climatic Change, 81(3-4), 283-312, DOI 10.1007/s10584-006-9159-6.
The original publication is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-9159-6.
download
Thomas Kleinen(2005):
Stochastic Information in the Assessment of Climate Change.
PhD Thesis, Universität Potsdam.
URN:urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-5382
download
Hermann Held and Thomas Kleinen (2004):
Detection of climate system bifurcations by degenerate fingerprinting.
Geophysical Research Letters, 31, L23207, DOI 10.1029/2004GL020972.
download
Thomas Kleinen, Hans-Martin Füssel, and Thomas Bruckner (2004):
Vorsorgeprinzip und Klimawandel: Der Leitplankenansatz.
In: Handeln trotz Nichtwissen,p. 79-98, Stefan Böschen, Michael Schneider und Anton Lerf (Eds.), Campus Verlag Frankfurt. (German language only.)
download
Thomas Kleinen, Hermann Held, and Gerhard Petschel-Held (2003):
The potential role of spectral properties in detecting thresholds in the Earth System: Application to the Thermohaline Circulation.
Ocean Dynamics, 53(2), 53-63, DOI 10.1007/s10236-002-0023-6.
The original publication is available at springerlink.com
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Master's Thesis (in German):
Thomas Kleinen (2000):
Zeitverhalten der Thermohalinen Zirkulation unter Einfluß des anthropogenen Treibhauseffektes.
Diplomarbeit, Universität Potsdam.
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Curriculum vitae
Education
2005: PhD in theoretical physics, Potsdam University, Germany.
2000: Diplom in physics, Potsdam University, Germany.
Positions
since 01/01/2009: Research Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany.
01/01/2008 - 31/12/2008: Research Scientist, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany.
01/08/2005 - 31/12/2007: Senior Research Associate, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
01/02/2001 - 31/07/2005: Research Associate, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany.