Research Activities

Our research is on the paleoclimate dynamics of the lower latitudes, with special emphasis on the impact of environmental changes on the biosphere. The studied time scales range from a few million years to less than a year. As examples, we work on the impact of climate change on human evolution in E Africa (long time scales of millions to hundred thousands of years), the influence of climatic change on the hydrological cycle and the role of the tropics in global climate change, climatically-induced mass movements, erosion processes and floods in the Andes and E Africa (intermediate time scales of tens of thousands to thousands of years) and the influence of extreme events such as volcanic eruptions, droughts and floods on the biosphere (time scales of hundreds of years to years). A third aspect of our research is the reliability of climate proxies and reconstructions and the development of new statistical tools for environmental reconstructions.

Current larger projects are the DFG-funded Suguta Valley Project (Kenya), the Chew Bahir Project (Ethiopia) on Tectonics, Climate and Human Evolution (together with colleagues at the U Köln) and the BMWi-funded EnMAP remote sensing project (together with colleagues at PIK). We are also involved in an ICDP initiative on drilling lake basins in East Africa and an IODP initiative on the history of the Agulhas Current. Major educationional programs the the DFG-funded Graduateschool GRK1364 on African and Asian Tectonics, Climate and Evolution, the Volkswagen Foundation-funded Masters Program Evolution Across Scales and the Volkswagen Foundation Summer School Programm on Tectonics, Climate and Evolution in East Africa.