Research


“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

Marie Curie

The IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) provides a world-class international research environment to improve our basic understanding of climate and its variability, to develop new research frontiers in earth system science and to perform skillful decadal earth system forecasts and improved longterm projections by means of high-performance computer simulations. We have five main topics of research.

To address key research objectives, ICCP is pursuing a comprehensive earth system dynamical approach, which encompasses different earth system components and extends across a range of spatial and temporal scales, from the past into the future. Both earth system modeling tools and paleo-observational methods will be developed, improved and applied to study the earth’s sensitivity to forcings, as well as the nature of internal climate instabilities. ICCP has launched one research group, on earth system dynamics (Director’s group). Two other Associate Director groups will be established over the coming years focusing on earth system history and earth system predictability. The scope of each research group is chosen to maximize synergy and collaboration.

hands with globe

Mission

Our mission is to enhance the understanding of natural climate variability and man-made climate change, and to improve the ability to predict climate impacts on the hydrological cycle, ice-sheets, sea level, and regional processes. ICCP provides basic scientific knowledge on the evolution of the climate system and its environmental and potential economic impacts. This information can help the general public and policymakers in planning, decision making, and in optimizing adaption and mitigation efforts to climate-induced risks.

Our ambition is to become a key international player in earth system science and to provide a stimulating work environment for the next generation of climate research leaders. ICCP complements research activities in other Korean universities and international institutions by exploring and advancing new research in multi-disciplinary earth system science, and by training a new generation of climate scientists in atmospheric sciences, oceanography, hydrodynamics, cryosphere and carbon cycle dynamics, dynamical systems’ analysis, numerical methods, and advanced statistics.