IRTG Travel Grants Programme

PhD candidate Olivia Linke spent two months at the University of California in Santa Cruz (UCSC)

Throughout July and August 2022 I visited the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC),
California to exchange research ideas with the group of Prof. Nicole Feldl. Nicole took part in an
advanced training module of the LGS-CAR in 2021 about the Arctic lapse-rate feedback, which is
how I got to know her and her research.
As guest researcher at UCSC, I gained a new perspective on my PhD work which mostly applies data
from several climate models for better understanding the lapse-rate feedback in the Arctic. So far, I
have mostly worked with climate model data to understand this particular process, and its
contribution to Arctic amplification in the past. My work at UCSC mostly focused on a better
prediction of this feedback process in the future, by using an emergent constraint approach. The main
idea of this approach is to identify physically plausible relationships between future climate
predictions, and aspects of the current climate state across models. By including observations, this
can allow us to narrow down the simulated range of model simulations, and ultimately improve our
prediction of Arctic amplification in the future.
The collaboration was very valuable in terms of gaining new ideas and insights in this specific
approach, and networking with other researchers with a similar focus. The research stay has helped
me to define a new subtopic within my research plan, and to write a paper which we plan to submit
by the end of March this year.
Finally, it was a wonderful opportunity to get to know Nicole and her group at UCSC, and to
discuss our research together. Santa Cruz is a beautiful city, not only due to the Pacific ocean being close by, but also due to its wildlife which even infiltrates the UCSC campus:
see picture 😉

A list of all funded travel grants can be found on the IRTG page here.