Dr. Hans von Storch
Director emeritus of Institute for Coastal Systems (previously Institute of Coastal Research) of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon in Geesthacht (previously: Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht - Zentrum für Material- und Küstenforschung, and even earlier: GKSS Research Center) | |
Professor at the Meteorological Institute and member of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Hamburg | |
Foreign member of Polish Academy of Sciences |
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Doctor honoris causa of Göteborgs Universitet |
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Guest professor of Ocean University of China (中国海洋大学) |
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Recipient of Östersjöfondens pris 2014 |
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Lead author of the IPCC WGI of AR3, and WGII of AR5 |
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Recipient of the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse) |
Hans von Storch is interested in coastal climate and impact (wind, storm surges and waves) in recent times and in possible futures, and methodical issues of statistical climatology (such as detection and attribution of anthropogenic climate change, or utility of proxy data). He is also engaged in joint research with social and cultural scientists since many years.
Hans von Storch has published 27 books, and more than 240 peer-reviewed articles. He is associate editor of Journal of Climate, and a member of the review board of Advances in Climate Change Research (the official journal of the Beijing Climate Center). In Poland, he serves on the editorial board of Oceanologia.
He chaired the publication of the 1st and 2nd BACC report and of the 1st and 2nd "Klimabericht für die Metropolregion Hamburg" (see here). After having served as a Lead Author for Working Group I of IPCC TAR, he acted as a Lead Author of Chapter 2 "Foundations of Decision Making" of Working Group II of IPCC AR5.
Hans studied mathematics, physics and Danish at the University of Hamburg, and received a diploma in mathematics in 1976. While a student he also worked as a programmer at the Department of Oceanography. He went on to receive his Ph.D. from the Meteorological Department of the University of Hamburg in 1979, and his "Habilitation" in 1985. From 1987 - 1995, he was Senior Scientist and leader of the "Statistical Analysis and Modelling" group at the Max Planck-Institut for Meteorology (Hasselmann division). During 1996-2015, Hans von Storch was a director of what became later the Institute for Coastal Research at the GKSS Research Centre (now Helmholtz Zentrum Hereon, after many years as Helmholtz Center Geesthacht) and professor at the Meteorological Institute of the University of Hamburg. Later he became also a member of the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences at that university. Within the Institute for Coastal Research, he headed the division "Systems Analysis and Modelling" until September 2015. In October 2008, he was awarded a doctor h.c. by Göteborgs Universitet, and in May 2013 he was elected a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. His efforts in generating knowledge about climate dynamics and change, and in communication with the public was recognized by the bestowal of the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse) in 2019.
He is married to Prof. Dr. Jin-Song von Storch (徐劲松).
During his academic life, which began in about 1971, Hans von Storch made a number of intellectual achievements. (Werner Krauss wrote a nice subjective piece about his role and his achievements; see also Sven Titz' "Klimawissenschaft zwischen Skylla und Charybdis" in NZZ, 27. January 2010. An overview of work is also given by the citation of the IMSC achievement award "to recognize his key contributions to statistical downscaling, reconstruction of temperature series, analyses of climatic variability, and detection and attribution of climate change". Laudatio by Senator K. Fegebank on the occasion of presenting the "Bundesverdienstkreuz". The Hamburger Abendblatt included him in its series Menschlich gesehen in 2010. (See also Quotes.)
See also the web-of-science based Researcher ID or the Google Scholar citation tool
- Post-Normal Science: The Case of Climate Research, Nature and Culture, Volume 7, 2 (Jun 2012), https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/nature-and-culture/7/2/nature-and-culture.7.issue-2.xml
- Special issue of ATMOSPHERE: "Storms, Jets and Other Meteorological Phenomena in Coastal Seas", 2018, and
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Modelling, Simulating and Forecasting Regional Climate and Weather, Volume I in 2020 and Volume II" in 2023 at FRONTIER, 2023
- Fishing for human perceptions in coastal and island marine resource use systems at FRONTIER in Marine Research, - volume I in 2016, and volume II in 2024