Moritz Günther
| Department | Climate Dynamics |
| Group | Large-scale Coupled Dynamics |
| Position | Group Leader |
| phone | +49 40 41173-176 |
| moritz.guenther@mpimet.mpg.de | |
| Room | B 315 |
Research
Under climate change, not all places on Earth warm or cool equally fast, and the pattern of these surface temperature changes controls important aspects of atmospheric circulation and cloudiness ("pattern effect"). Most importantly, the temperature pattern influences the climate feedback parameter and therefore climate sensitivity, i.e., how much Earth changes its temperature in response to radiative perturbations.
I research the physical mechanisms of sea surface temperature pattern formation, as well as their consequences for the general circulation, feedbacks, and climate sensitivity.
In the group "Large-scale Coupled Dynamics", which I lead, we research how the land- and ocean surfaces influence the atmospheric circulation. Using the model hierarchy (i.e., a chain of models of different complexities) we question and investigate the basic mechanisms that control the general circulation.
Pacific temperature patterns
My current research is aimed at understanding the evolution of the pattern of surface temperatures in the future, because it critically influences how much the Earth will warm in response to greenhouse gases. Will the currently observed pattern of strong Western Pacific warming continue, or will it, as suggested by an extensive body of literature, switch to Eastern Pacific warming? If there is a transition, when will it happen, and which processes determine its time scale?
So far, the pattern problem has mostly been viewed as a coupled air-sea problem. My research emphasizes the role of land in the coupled system. I investigate how processes originating from land warming, such as land-sea contrasts, can shape the Pacific SST pattern.
Large-scale coupled dynamics
I am generally interested in questions of large-scale coupled dynamics, in particular in the tropics. Examples include theoretical studies about drivers of the Walker circulation, the coupling of Walker and Hadley circulation, or ITCZ dynamics. You can find topics I work on with the post-docs and students in my group on our group website.
In my PhD thesis, I explored the pattern effect in the aftermath of volcanic eruptions. Large volcanic eruptions can add reflective aerosol to the stratosphere, which cools the Earth for a short time (~years). I showed that different patterns of surface temperatures arise in response to forcing from stratospheric aerosol than in response to CO2 forcing. I explained the origins of these differences, which involve the stratospheric overturning circulation (Brewer-Dobson circulation) and its effects on the troposphere. Furthermore, I showed how the pattern differences explain why a certain radiative perturbation (in W/m2) from stratospheric aerosol leads to a smaller global mean temperature change than a radiative perturbation of the same magnitude from CO2.
- Group leader of the "Large-scale Coupled Dynamics" group (since November 2025)
- PostDoc in the Joint Max-Planck/Weizmann Postdoctoral Program (September 2024 - October 2025)
- PhD student at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (2020 - 2024), final grade: summa cum laude (with distinction)
- M.Sc. and B.Sc in "Medical Physis" from University of Halle (Germany)
- Google Scholar
- CV
- PhD Thesis: Asymmetries between the climate responses to CO2 and stratospheric aerosol forcing
- Twitter (@MoritzGnther7)
- Mastodon (@moritzguenther@mastodon.world)
- Github (moritz-g): Parts of my code are available on github. All publications of which I'm first author contain a link to the underlying code and, as far as I own the rights, the data / model output.
A puzzling temperature pattern in the tropical Pacific
Currently, climate change in the tropical Pacific is unfolding in a way that climate researchers did not expect. But the working group of Sarah Kang, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, is already on the path to solving this puzzle.
Climate feedback to stratospheric aerosol forcing: the key role of the pattern effect
In a recent study Moritz Günther, Hauke Schmidt, Claudia Timmreck (all MPI-M), and Matthew Toohey (University of Saskatchewan) argue why the cooling following large volcanic eruptions is smaller than what one might expect from simple energy balance arguments.
