Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rupert Klein, Freie Universität Berlin

Mathematics in climate research is often thought to be mainly a provider of techniques for solving, e.g., the atmosphere and ocean flow equations. Three examples elucidate that its role is much broader and deeper:
1) Climate modelers often employ reduced forms of "the flow equations" for efficiency. Mathematical analysis helps assessing the regimes of validity of such models and defining conditions under which they can be solved robustly.
2) Climate is defined as "weather statistics", and climate research investigates
its change in time in our single realization of Earth with all its complexity. The required reliable notions of time dependent statistics for sparse data in high dimensions, however, remain to be established. Recent mathematical research offers advanced data analysis techniques that could be game-changing in this respect.
3) Climate research, economy, and the social sciences are to generate a scientific basis for informed political decision making. Subtle misunderstandings often hamper systematic progress in this area. Mathematical formalization can help structuring discussions and bridging language barriers in interdisciplinary research.