The types of extreme events considered in this project are heat waves, heavy rainfall events and droughts. During phase 1 of ClimXtreme, a semi-operational prototype of an attribution workflow has been developed. With this workflow it is possible to evaluate observations and climate models, regarding the question how much the anthropogenic climate change contributed to a certain type of an extreme event in Germany. In phase two, there are three main goals. First, to complete the attribution workflow, it is necessary to implement a synthesis tool to the current workflow to combine the results from the different observations and climate models. Second, for better evaluations of extreme precipitation events like the Ahrtal flooding 2021, a pooling approach will be implemented. This allows to extend the available data to observations or model data of different regions with similar climatic conditions. Third, combining these, the overall operational workflow will be improved by adding more data sets for a better attribution and to analyze current heat or precipitation extremes with this workflow. Overall the end result will be an operational system with minimal human input. Nevertheless, expert knowledge will always be necessary to define the event and validate the model data. The project will extend the knowledge with collaborations with other projects inside and outside of ClimXtreme.

Website: Attribution studies at Deutscher Wetterdienst, including contributions by AXE_G
Institutions:  Regional Climate Office Potsdam, Deutscher Wetterdienst
Contact: Dr. Frank Kreienkamp, Dr. Philip Lorenz, Miriam Tivig, Jonas Schröter