Connected Across Europe: The EUCLIDYAN Initiative on Climate Dynamics
Within climate science, climate dynamics aims to maintain a broad perspective: How does the climate evolve over longer periods of time? What interactions and feedback processes shape its natural variability? And how does it respond to external forcing? This branch of climate research focuses on gaining a fundamental physical understanding of the climate, rather than on describing it, developing new models, or making predictions.
Research on climate dynamics has taken root primarily in the United States—for historical reasons. “At renowned research institutions such as the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, model developers have always worked together with people who focus more on theoretical aspects. This type of collaboration then became a blueprint for other research centers in the U.S.,” explains Rodrigo Caballero Augi, professor of dynamic meteorology at Stockholm University. “Climate dynamics may only be a small part of climate research in terms of the number of people working on it—but it is a very essential one. We need the conceptual understanding that this field of research develops to interpret modeling results and observations.“
For a long time, climate research in Europe emphasized different aspects. However, the research landscape is changing. One example in Germany is the work of the Climate Dynamics department at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M). The department was established by its director Sarah Kang in 2023. Kang completed her doctoral thesis at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory/Princeton University and conducted research at Columbia University. She then led a research group on climate dynamics at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Republic of Korea. At the MPI-M, her department covers various aspects of the topic, including large-scale atmospheric dynamics, climate-weather interaction, and ocean dynamics. Kang’s team strives to understand the fundamental mechanisms behind some of the biggest puzzles in climate science. For example, the scientists recently provided a consistent explanation for why the eastern Pacific has cooled despite global warming—a mystery that had puzzled climate researchers around the globe for a decade.
A network for the European climate dynamics community
Recently, Kang launched an initiative that uniquely connects the European climate dynamics community: EUCLIDYAN (European-Mediterranean Climate Dynamics Action Network). Alongside Kang’s and Caballero’s research groups, teams from the University of St. Andrews and ETH Zurich are part of the collaboration. Others may join in the future. The idea for such a network goes back to Kang’s research experiences in Korea. Sarah Kang’s father, climate scientist In-Sik Kang, Professor Emeritus at Seoul National University, placed great importance on bringing young researchers together through informal events and joint excursions. “I participated in such an event as a undergrad student and was fascinated by it. The main goal was to have a good time together,” says Kang. Later, she continued this initiative herself as a professor at UNIST, maintaining close ties with groups in Japan and Taiwan, and then handed it over to the next generation of young researchers. “In other words, we had created a self-sustaining network that continues to evolve. I wanted something like that for Europe as well.”
In March 2026, Kang therefore invited members of other climate dynamics research labs within Europe to a workshop at Ringberg Castle—a conference venue of the Max Planck Society in an idyllic setting on Lake Tegernsee in the Bavarian Alps. “We didn’t really know what to expect,” says Michael Byrne, head of the Climate Dynamics Lab at the University of St. Andrews. But he is enthusiastic: “It was great to see how well my group embraced the experience. The workshop was very productive, and new collaborations emerged from it.”
Posters, group work, hiking
Over the course of three days, the members of the four participating labs exchanged ideas on their respective fields of research. Moritz Günther, a group leader in Kang’s department and co-organizer of the meeting, highlights the extensive and constructive poster session. In contrast to large conferences, where the number of posters and breadth of topics can be overwhelming, participants were able to focus on each and every presentation. “I had so many great discussions and questions about my poster,” reports Clarissa Kroll, a Postdoc in the group of Robert Jnglin Wills at ETH Zurich. “I felt that the others understood exactly what I do, and we identified many commonalities and overlaps.”
Working in small groups, the participants also explored specific project ideas proposed by the young researchers—such as climate variability in the North Atlantic, the representation of atmospheric circulation in storm-resolving models, or the distribution of precipitation between land and ocean. The group work on precipitation was led by Luca Schmidt, a postdoc in Byrne’s team and former MPI-M scientist. She brought the questions and the data, and six people joined her. This work is already bearing fruit: The researchers are currently working on a manuscript that they plan to submit for review to a scientific journal.
However, many participants say that the most important thing was the personal interaction. “A large part of our work involves building and maintaining a network,” says Clarissa Kroll. “But you don’t build a network through academic discussions alone—it also comes from shared experiences.” The exclusive, secluded conference venue made it easier to get to know one another: joint meals, ping-pong and board games in the evening, as well as walks along the winding paths of the Ringberg fostered genuine connections in no time. The participants agree that this also benefits science: “When you know each other on a personal level, you also feel comfortable expressing even half-baked ideas. That can advance science,” says Luca Schmidt. Joas Müller, a doctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, adds: “Now that you know the people, you’re less hesitant to contact someone from the group and just ask if you have a question.”
Better together
The new network is already supporting early-career researchers in their daily academic lives. For instance, they arranged to meet at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in May, which gave them a sense of belonging among the 20,000 attendees. “We now have a small sub-community that we can rely on, even at larger conferences,” says Andrew Chingos of the University of St. Andrews. “They come to your talks, you visit them during their poster sessions, and you have lunch together.” Rodrigo Caballero also hopes that EUCLIDYAN will help promote the field of climate dynamics in Europe more generally: “Hopefully, this initiative will put the important questions of climate dynamics more on the radar here in Europe, including that of funding agencies.”
Next year, climate dynamics experts will meet again—not at Ringberg Castle, but at a Scottish country house. Michael Byrne’s team will host the second EUCLIDYAN workshop there in May 2027. Participants share the sense that this is the beginning of something exciting and impactful, which will grow into a lasting community for years to come.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Sarah Kang
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
sarah.kang@mpimet.mpg.de
Dr. Moritz Günther
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
moritz.guenther@mpimet.mpg.de