Dr. Ralf Weisse
Dr. Ralf Weisse
Coastal Climate and Regional Sea Level Changes
Head of DepartmentPhone: +49 (0)4152 87-2819
Research Interests
My research interests comprise all aspects of marine climate and marine climate change. I am curious, in particular, about wind storms, storm surges, ocean waves, or regional mean sea levels and how they vary and change in the past and the future. I am also interested in their impacts on, for example, the coast, how society may adapt to changes, and bringing knowledge into application.
Projects coordinated
Scientific career
| Since 2001 | Head of the Coastal Climate group at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (now Helmholtz Zentrum Hereon) |
| 2000 | Research Scientist at the Institute of Coastal Research at the GKSS Research Centre Geesthacht, Germany |
| 1996-1999 | Research Scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany |
| 1994-1996 | PostDoc at the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany |
| June 1994 | Ph.D. in Geoscience, University of Hamburg, Germany on decadal variability in an ocean general circulation model in the North Atlantic |
| 1990-1994 | Ph.D. student at the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany |
| July 1990 | Diploma in Meteorology, Humboldt University zu Berlin, Germany on temperature trends in the European-Atlantic region over the past decades of years |
Services
| Since 2020 | Member of the “Zukunftsforum Ozean” organized by the German Marine Research Consortium (KDM) |
| Since 2016 | Member of the Baltic Earth Science Steering Group (BESSG); Chair of the working group on Sea Level Dynamics and Coastal Erosion in the Baltic Sea |
- Krieger, D., Weisse, R., Baehr, J., & Borchert, L.F. (2025): Machine learning-driven skillful decadal predictions of German Bight storm surges. Geophysical Research Letters, 52, e2024GL111558, doi:10.1029/2024GL111558
- Bernier, N.B., Hemer, M., Nobuhito, M., Appendini, C.M., Breivik, O., de Camargo, R., Casas-Prat, M., Duong, T.M., Haigh, I.D., Howard, T., Hernaman, V., Huizy, O., Irish, J.L., Kirezci, E., Kohno, N., Lee, J.-W., McInnes, K.L., Meyer, E.M.I., Marcos, M., Marsooli, R., Oliva, A.M., Menendez, M., Moghimi, S., Muis, S., Polton, J.A., Pringle, W.J., Ranasinghe, R., Saillour, T., Smith, G., Tadesse, M.G., Swail, V., Tomoya, S., Voukouvalas, E., Wahl, T., Wang, P., Weisse, R., Westerink, J.J., Young, I., & Zhang, Y.J. (2024): Storm Surges and Extreme Sea Levels: Review, Establishment of Model Intercomparison and Coordination of Surge Climate Projection Efforts (SurgeMIP). Weather and Climate Extremes, 100689, doi:10.1016/j.wace.2024.100689
- Bormann, H., Berkenbrink, C., Karrasch, L., Massmann, G., Ratter, B., Wessels, A., & Weisse, R. (2024): Wasser an den Küsten Ostfrieslands (WAKOS): maßgeschneiderte Klimaservices für die Anpassung. Notfallvorsorge 1/2024, S. 17-25
- Bormann, H., Kebschull, J., Gaslikova, L., & Weisse, R. (2024): Model-based assessment of climate change impact on inland flood risk at the German North Sea coast caused by compounding storm tide and precipitation events. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2559–2576, doi:10.5194/nhess-24-2559-2024
- Krieger, D., Brune, S., Baehr, J., & Weisse, R. (2024): Improving seasonal predictions of German Bight storm activity. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1539–1554, doi:10.5194/nhess-24-1539-2024
- Meyer, E.M.I., Gaslikova, L., Groll, N., & Weisse, R. (2024): The Baltic storm surges of 1872 and 2023 – what do they have in common? Die Küste, 94 - Online First, doi:10.18171/1.094106
- Ratter, B., Anke Wessels, A., Bormann, H., & Weisse, R. (2024): Risikoregion hinter den Deichen - Umgang mit Extremereignisbündeln als transdisziplinäre Herausforderung an der Küste. In: RaumPlanung 227 / 3/4-2024, S. 13-18
- Teutsch, I., Weisse, R., & Wahls, S. (2024): Brief communication: Implications of outstanding solitons for the occurrence of rogue waves at two additional sites in the North Sea. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2065–2069, doi:10.5194/nhess-24-2065-2024
- von Storch, H., Feser, F., Blender, R., Camargo, S., Cavicchia, L., Di Luca, A., Fu, G., Gozzo, L., Koks, E., Messmer, M., Mori, N., Priestley, M., Roy, T., Schultz, D., Watanabe, S., & Weisse, R. (2024): Storms as Forming and Threatening Factors for Coasts. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.853
- Weisse, R., Gaslikova, L., Hagemann, S., Heinrich, P., Berkenbrink, C., Chen, J., Bormann, H., Kebschull, J., Ley, A., Massmann, G., Greskowiak, J., Thissen, L., Karrasch, L., Schoppe, A., Ratter, B., & Wessels, A. (2024): Zusammenwirken von Naturgefahren im Klimawandel ist für die Nordseeküste zunehmend eine Herausforderung. Wasser und Abfall 26 (5), S. 38–45, doi:10.1007/s35152-024-1854-y
- Weisse, R., & Meinke, I. (2024): Mittlerer Meeresspiegelanstieg und Sturmfluten. In: Brasseur, G.P., Jacob, D., Schuck-Zöller, S. (eds): Klimawandel in Deutschland. Springer Spektrum, Berlin, Heidelberg, doi:10.1007/978-3-662-66696-8_9
- Heinrich, P., Hagemann, S., Weisse, R., & Gaslikova, L. (2023): Changes in compound flood event frequency in northern and central Europe under climate change. Front. Clim. 5:1227613, doi:10.3389/fclim.2023.1227613
- Heinrich, P., Hagemann, S., Weisse, R., Schrum, C., Daewel, U., & Gaslikova, L. (2023): Compound flood events: analysing the joint occurrence of extreme river discharge events and storm surges in northern and central Europe. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1967–1985, doi:10.5194/nhess-23-1967-2023
- Teutsch, I., Brühl, M., Weisse, R., & Wahls, S. (2023): Contribution of solitons to enhanced rogue wave occurrence in shallow depths: a case study in the southern North Sea. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2053–2073, doi:10.5194/nhess-23-2053-2023
- Krieger, D., Brune, S., Pieper, P., Weisse, R., & Baehr, J. (2022): Skillful decadal prediction of German Bight storm activity. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3993–4009, doi:10.5194/nhess-22-3993-2022
- Liu, X., Meinke, I., & Weisse, R. (2022): Still normal? Near-real-time evaluation of storm surge events in the context of climate change. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 97–116, doi:10.5194/nhess-22-97-2022
- Meier, H.E.M., Kniebusch, M., Dieterich, C., Gröger, M., Zorita, E., Elmgren, R., Myrberg, K., Ahola, M.P., Bartosova, A., Bonsdorff, E., Börgel, F., Capell, R., Carlén, I., Carlund, T., Carstensen, J., Christensen, O.B., Dierschke, V., Frauen, C., Frederiksen, M., Gaget, E., Galatius, A., Haapala, J. J., Halkka, A., Hugelius, G., Hünicke, B., Jaagus, J., Jüssi, M., Käyhkö, J., Kirchner, N., Kjellström, E., Kulinski, K., Lehmann, A., Lindström, G., May, W., Miller, P.A., Mohrholz, V., Müller-Karulis, B., Pavón-Jordán, D., Quante, M., Reckermann, M., Rutgersson, A., Savchuk, O.P., Stendel, M., Tuomi, L., Viitasalo, M., Weisse, R., & Zhang, W. (2022): Climate change in the Baltic Sea region: a summary. Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 457–593, doi:10.5194/esd-13-457-2022
- Meyer, E.M.I., Weisse, R., Grabemann, I., Tinz, B., & Scholz, R. (2022): Reconstruction of wind and surge of the 1906 storm tide at the German North Sea coast. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2419–2432, doi:10.5194/nhess-22-2419-2022
- Teutsch, I., & Weisse, R. (2022): Rogue Waves in the Southern North Sea - The Role of Modulational Instability. Journal of Physical Oceanography, doi:10.1175/JPO-D-22-0059.1
- Jensen, J., Ebener, A., Jänicke, L., Arns, A., Hubert, K., Wurpts, A., Berkenbrink, C., Weisse, R., Yi, X., & Meyer, E. (2021): Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung der Tidedynamik an der deutschen Nordseeküste (ALADYN). Die Küste, 89, doi:10.18171/1.089105
- Weisse, R., Dailidienė, I., Hünicke, B., Kahma, K., Madsen, K., Omstedt, A., Parnell, K., Schöne, T., Soomere, T., Zhang, W., & Zorita, E. (2021): Sea level dynamics and coastal erosion in the Baltic Sea region. Earth Syst. Dynam., 12, 871–898, doi:10.5194/esd-12-871-2021
- Yi, X., & Weisse, R. (2021): Modellgestütze Untersuchungen zum Einfluss großräumiger Faktoren auf die Tidedynamik in der Deutschen Bucht. Karlsruhe: Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau, doi:10.18171/1.089107
Publications 2016-2020
Publications 2011 - 2015
Publications 1994 - 2010