21.07.2026

From the information booth and scientific posters to conference talks, and session moderation, the DKRZ is shaping the km-scale Global Modelling Summit 2026 in Hamburg on many levels. Together with its partners from climate science and high-performance computing (HPC), DKRZ is making key contributions to the development, operation, and scientific use of the next generation of global kilometer-scale Earth system models.

Around 350 experts in climate science, HPC, and artificial intelligence (AI) have gathered at Bucerius Law School in the heart of Hamburg from 20–24 July 2026 to discuss the rapid scientific and technological advances in high-resolution Earth system modelling.

At the heart of the summit is the question of how future global kilometer-scale Earth system models can represent physical processes more realistically while running efficiently on exa-scale supercomputers - and what role AI will play in achieving this. For DKRZ, this is a central topic, as scientific progress and cutting-edge computing infrastructure come together.

Through its contributions, DKRZ covers the entire lifecycle of modern Earth system simulations — from model development and running the models efficiently on supercomputers to the provision of analysis-ready datasets.

New insights into the Ocean: First extended HAMOCC simulation at 2.5 km resolution

A particular highlight of the summit is the presentation of the first longer ICON simulations including the Hamburg Ocean Carbon Cycle Model (HAMOCC). This marks the first time the carbon cycle — both on land and in the ocean — has been simulated at a global resolution of 2.5 kilometers. This allows climate researchers to explicitly resolve the response of the carbon cycle to mesoscale processes in the ocean, even in high latitudes. 

The simulations, which have been run by David Nielsen of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) in collaboration with the University of Hamburg and ETH Zurich, was prepared in several visualizations just in time for the event by Michael Böttinger (DKRZ). As the biogeochemical component of the ICON Earth system model, HAMOCC simulates material cycles within the ocean and their interactions with sediments and the atmosphere.

The new visualizations of the HAMOCC/ICON simulations are also available on the DKRZ YouTube channel.

Carbon export at 90m depth and ocean currents simulated with ICON at 2.5km resolution (Simulation: David Nielsen et al., MPI-M/ETH/UHH; Visualization: Michael Böttinger, DKRZ)

At the DKRZ booth, these and other kilometer-scale simulation results are presented on a climate globe and an interactive touch table. The visualizations demonstrate how high-resolution Earth system models are increasingly becoming powerful tools for making complex interactions within the Earth system visible and accessible for scientific analysis. They highlight the scientific potential of kilometer-scale modeling and the new research opportunities these simulations create for climate science.

A Summit Built on Collaboration

The km-scale Global Modelling Summit is part of a broader scientific effort. It builds on the achievements of projects such as DestinE, EERIE, nextGEMS, WarmWorld, and other German and European initiatives, while advancing the vision of the Earth Virtualization Engines (EVE): making high-resolution climate information accessible to everyone. This vision has evolved into a growing international community working together to advance Earth system models, software, and data infrastructures.

An important element of this collaboration is the series of Global km-Scale Hackathons organised under the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and coordinated by Earth System Modelling and Observations (ESMO). Last year, researchers gathered simultaneously at ten locations worldwide — including Hamburg — to work together on kilometer-scale modeling challenges. The next hackathon is scheduled for June 2027.

Immediately before the summit, around 50 scientists met at MPI-M from 16–18 July for a three-day hackathon. The event focused on evaluating the outcomes of the 2025 Global km-Scale Hackathon and preparing the next edition in 2027. Events like these strengthen international collaboration and help translate scientific innovations more rapidly into operational Earth system modelling.

Whether through high-performance computing, data management, or the visualization of high-resolution simulations, DKRZ provides the infrastructure that enables kilometer-scale Earth system models to be developed and deployed on future exa-scale systems. The summit demonstrates how closely scientific research and research infrastructures such as DKRZ work together to advance the next generation of climate modelling.

Impressions of the first two day at the km-scale summit.

Further information

The km-scale Global Modelling Summit is funded by several scientific projects, including WarmWorld, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), the EU-funded project EERIE, and the EXCLAIM project funded by ETH Zurich’s Open ETH programme. The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology is the local host and one of the sponsors of the event.