Development and validation of a coupled model system in the Baltic region-BALTIMOS

Abstract

During the last decades, ongoing climatic change in the region of the Baltic Sea became evident from hydro-meteorological observations. This raised concerns about the future of the Baltic Sea and its surrounding catchment and asked for an in-depth understanding of the processes, which determine the climate of the region. Within the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX)—one of the projects of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)—one of the continental-scale experiments (CSEs) addressed the Baltic Sea region: the Baltic Sea Experiment (BALTEX). The major objectives of BALTEX were to determine the water and energy budgets for the Baltic Sea and its catchment area, to identify and to understand the processes, which are influencing the water and energy cycles, and to create a base for the simulation of the water and energy cycles under climate change conditions.