The effects of climate change are already becoming apparent: average global temperatures are rising, ice is melting and sea levels are rising. All aspects of life are being affected. Conditions for people and the planet are changing at a fundamental level.

More research perspectives are needed

We need to improve our understanding of the climate system and identify areas where our knowledge is limited, even though we already have sufficient knowledge to reduce emissions and adapt society to climate change. This is particularly important if we are going to be able to predict, manage and mitigate the consequences of climate change.

Researchers in this area are studying, for example:

• the climate system from many different perspectives, so that we can better understand and address climate-related issues. There are strong links between the climate and other major global issues such as poverty reduction, air pollution, biodiversity loss and economic growth
• the climate’s natural variation, how and why it changes over time, and how sensitive the climate system is to change
• the impact of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems
• the physical processes in the atmosphere, land, ecosystems, oceans and ice that are important for carbon, water and other cycles. Knowledge of this is essential in order to develop more reliable climate models and to understand how the climate will react to, for example, increased emissions and changes in land use.

Improving climate models through collaboration

The research environment MERGE brings together researchers from five Swedish universities and the Rossby Centre (SMHI) to develop global and regional climate models that describe different processes in the climate system. The advanced models make it possible to study interactions between the physical properties of the atmosphere, land surface, ecosystems, oceans, lakes and ice.

Application areas

Researchers generate innovations and knowledge in close collaboration with national and international experts, industry, the public sector and other societal stakeholders. A key objective of MERGE is to improve the relevance of climate models to society, so that research and its results can be applied in practice. This includes: