GEOMAR  Matthes, Katja

Prof. Dr. Katja Matthes

Katja Matthes Foto: Felix Gross/CAU

Photo: Felix Gross/CAU

Office: 
Phone  +49 431 600 2800
Fax +49 431 600 2805
E-Mail: office-director(at)geomar.de 

Address
GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Wischhofstr. 1-3
D-24148 Kiel

 

Katja Matthes is Director of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Professor of Atmospheric Physics. She received her doctorate in meteorology from the Free University of Berlin in 2003 in the Department of Geosciences, research stays took her to Japan and as a Marie Curie Fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, USA. In 2007, she returned to Germany and took up teaching and management positions at the Free University of Berlin and at the GFZ (Helmholtz Centre Potsdam German Research Centre for Geosciences), where she headed a Helmholtz University Junior Research Group. In 2012, she moved to the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel as a full professor of atmospheric physics. Since 2020, she has served as Director of GEOMAR and as an expert in the field of climate variability and climate change on numerous committees. Katja Matthes is co-author of the current 6th IPCC report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Her commitment to the goals of the UN Ocean Decade and as a board member of the German Alliance for Marine Research is of great importance to the national and international marine research community. Katja Matthes is married and has three children.

 

Expertise | Committes and Cooperations | Academic Background

 

Deutschlandfunk Interview (german)
Klimawandel: Die Rolle des Ozeans

Helmholtz News
„Career paths must become more diverse!“

OCEAN SUMMIT Podcast (german)
Der Ozean als Verbündeter gegen die Klimakrise

Expertise

  • The ocean as a solution option for climate change: marine carbon storage, technical solutions such as CO2 storage under the seabed, carbon capture and storage (CCS), natural solutions such as renaturalisation

  • Role of the ocean in climate and climate change: role of the atmosphere and the ocean in future climate development and climate variations

  • Protection and sustainable use of the ocean: solutions to protect marine ecosystems, such as rock flour to protect coral reefs

  • Man-made and natural climate fluctuations: Focus on triggers for climate variability in the ocean

  • International cooperation, agreements, legal situation in the field of ocean research: IPCC, ‘Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’, Partnership with West Africa (FUTURO), Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO), SeaBed for mapping the seabed

  • Deep-sea mining and international law of the sea: environmental impacts of deep-sea mining, JPIO MiningImpact, legal foundations such as the International Seabed Authority (ISA), United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS)
    Protected area Baltic Sea, munitions in the sea, ocean observation (Shaping an Ocean of Possibilities (SOOP), underway data

  • Female Leadership

► Overview lectures
► Overview scientific publications

 

Committees and Cooperations

 

Academic Background

Research Interests

  • Stratosphere-troposphere-ocean modeling with special focus on chemistry-climate modeling
  • Role of the middle atmosphere for (natural) climate variability
  • Mechanisms for Sun-climate connections
  • Decadal climate variability and predictability
  • Processes in the UTLS (Upper Troposphere Lower Stratosphere)
  • Development of and contribution to international model intercomparison studies of climate variability and climate change

 

Honors and Awards

  • 2019: Contributing author, 6th assessment report, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  (WG I, Chapter 2)
  • 2010: Admission to the AcademiaNet (http://www.academia-net.de/), a German online platform to enhance the visibility of excellent women in science
  • 2009 - 2010: Selected participant of the Helmholtz-Mentoring program for women “In Führung gehen” („Preparing for Leadership“)
  • 2004: Ernst-Reuter Award of the Freie Universität Berlin
  • 2001: Award for the best young scientist from the “Stiftung Umwelt und Schadensvorsorge der SV Gebäudeversicherung, Stuttgart” at the DACH-Meteorologentagung in Vienna, Austria

 

Professional Experience

  • Since October 2020: Director, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
  • 2018-2020: Head of Research Division 1: Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics
  • Since 2012: W3-Professorship for General Meteorology at the Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Head of the Working Group "Physics of the Atmosphere"
  • 2012-2015: Head of the Helmholtz-University Young Investigators Group NATHAN (Quantification of Natural Climate Variability in the Atmosphere-Hydrosphere System with Data Constrained Simulations) at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
  • 2010 - 2011: W2-Professorship for Atmosphere-Hydrosphere Systems at the Faculty of Geosciences at the Freie Universität Berlin and the Helmholtz-Centre Potsdam, the German Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
  • 2009-2011: Head of the Helmholtz-University Young Investigators Group NATHAN (Quantification of Natural Climate Variability in the Atmosphere-Hydrosphere System with Data Constrained Simulations), Helmholtz-Centre Potsdam, German Centre for Geosciences and Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Meteorologie
  • 2004–2008: PostDoc, Institut für Meteorologie, Freie Universität Berlin
  • 2007–2008: Reintegration phase of a Marie Curie Outgoing International Fellowship (OIF) SOLVO (The Influence of Solar Variability on Climate) within the 6th framework of the European commission
  • 2004–2007: PostDoc National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder/CO, USA, Outgoing phase of the Marie Curie Fellowship
  • 2003: Dr. rer. nat., Institut für Meteorologie, Freie Universität Berlin
  • Topi: The influence of the 11-Year Solar Cycle and the QBO on the Atmosphere. a Model Study (summa cum laude, Prof. Dr. K. Labitzke, Prof. Dr. U. Cubasch)  PDF
  • 2000–2003: PhD student, Institut für Meteorologie, Freie Universität Berlin (Stratospheric Research Group)
  • 1998–2000: Diploma student, Institut für Meteorologie, Freie Universität Berlin (Stratospheric Research Group)
  • 2000: Diploma in Meteorology (with distinction)
  • 1995–2000: Freie Universität Berlin (Studies of Meteorology)

 

Teaching

► Overview Teaching

Katja Matthes

► Press photos Katja Matthes

 

Expertise | Committes and Cooperations | Academic Background