Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann
| Phone: | +49 821 598 2751 |
| Email: | harald.kunstmann@uni-auni-a.de () |
| Room: | 2024 (B) |
| Open hours: | by appointment only |
| Address: | Alter Postweg 118, 86159 Augsburg |
Research Foci
- Impact of regional climate change on terrestrial hydrology
- Dynamic and statistical downscaling of meteorological fields
- Fully coupled and cross-compartmental regional atmospheric and hydrological modeling
- Modeling and observation of water and energy flows
- Application of Commercial Microwave Links (CMLs) for precipitation determination
- Geostatistic Merging of hydrometeorological Variables
- Seasonal predictions
Curriculum Vitae
Since 2021 Founding Director Centre for Climate Resilience at University of Augsburg
09/18-01/19 Honorary Research Assiciate at the University of Oxford
Since 2015 Deputy Director of the KIT Campus Alpin
Since 2009 W3 professor and holder of the Chair for Regional Climate and Hydrology at the University of Augsburg in joint appointment with the KIT Campus Alpin, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Since 2004 Head of the Regional Climate Systems Department at the KIT Campus Alpin
Since 2001 Head of the research group Regional Climate and Hydrology at the KIT-Campus Alpin
Since 1999 Research associate at the Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (KIT Campus Alpin)
1995-1998 Dissertation in Environmental Natural Sciences at ETH Zurich
1989-1994 Studied physics at the University of Marburg, Virginia/USA and Heidelberg
Honors and Awards
- Kavli Frontier of Science Fellow, 2014
- Keynote Speech, United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation UNSGAB+5 Conference, 12.2.2021
- Water Resources Prize, Rüdiger Kurt-Bode Foundation – Stifterverband, 2021
Selected Publications
Dash, S., Maity, R., Maity, S. S., and Kunstmann, H.: Population exposure to compound climate extremes: global analysis to identify continent wise age group disparities in a warming world, npj Nat. Hazards, 1, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44304-025-00145-9, 2025.
Eisenacher, S., Fluhrer, A., Bliefernicht, J., Short Gianotti, D. J., Kunstmann, H., and Jagdhuber, T.: Lightning Density and Its Coupled Covariates Within the Continental United States, Earth and Space Science, 9, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EA004207, 2025.
Glawion, L., Polz, J., Kunstmann, H., Fersch, B., and Chwala, C.: Global spatio-temporal ERA5 precipitation downscaling to km and sub-hourly scale using generative AI, npj Clim Atmos Sci, 1, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-01103-y, 2025.
Guug, S., Sy, S., Quansah, E., Bliefernicht, J., Neidl, F., Steinbrecher, R., Ayamba, M., Frempong, A., Davies, P., Spangenberg, I., Oussou, F. E., Diallo, B. A., Salack, S., Hackman, K., Amekudzi, L. K., Ogunjobi, K., and Kunstmann, H.: Methane emissions from rice cultivation in West Africa and compensation options from nature reserve forests, Environ. Res. Lett., 4, 44050, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adc28c, 2025.
Hingerl, L., Bliefernicht, J., Guug, S., Sy, S., Neidl, F., Jagdhuber, T., and Kunstmann, H.: Comparative analysis of land–atmosphere interactions across three contrasting ecosystems in the West Sudanian Savanna, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 102751, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102751, 2025.
Nadolski, L., Bliefernicht, J., Petrovic, D., Rauch, M., Sy, S., Guug, S., Steinbrecher, R., Neidl, F., Hingerl, L., and Kunstmann, H.: Exploring and closing the energy balance of eddy covariance measurements along a land use gradient in the West African Sudanian savanna, Front. Water, 1393884, https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2024.1393884, 2024.
Research Projects
Current projects |
|
| BRaVE | Building Climate Resilience for a Vital Environment (BRaVE): Identification of Vulnerabilities, Indicators and Implications for Actions |
| CONCERT | Greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation options under climate- and land use change in West Africa: A concerted regional modeling and observation assessment |
| Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing | Integrated hydrological modeling and analysis of the interaction between soil moisture and the atmospheric boundary layer |
| Energy Landscapes | Sustainable energy landscapes - Modelling regional strategies for the expansion of renewable energies with special consideration of national and international climate policy |
Finished projects |
|
| AtmoWater | High-resolution atmospheric water vapor based on geodetic satellite measurement, tomographic intersection and atmospheric modeling |
| BIAS1 | Local refinement and bias correction of climate projections |
| BIAS2 | Synthesis of high-resolution regionalization, multivariate stochastic bias correction and optimized hydrological model and process analysis |
| Digital Earth | Towards SMART Monitoring and Earth System Integrated Data Exploration - Implementing the Data Science Paradigm |
| Enershelf | High resolution energy meteorological forecasting for improved management of PV-hybrid systems |
| FOR2131 | Combination of observation types for precipitation (rain gauges, commercial microwave links, weather radar) to precipitation fields for use in fully coupled data assimilation systems |
| HoWa Innovativ | More accurate forecasting of floods by improving precipitation measurement using data from commercial microwave links (CMLs) |
| LandKlif TP-8 | Climate and water balance analysis for Bavaria using extremely high-resolution regional earth system modeling |
| SALDI | South Africa Land Degradation Monitor - Land-Atmosphere Interactions: Regional Assessment |
| STUDIO | STeigerwald study area: Forecasting and management system for coping with Drought perI-Ods in Franconia. |
| SYNOPSE | Synthetic precipitation time series for the optimal planning and operation of urban drainage systems |
| WASCAL | West African Science Service Center on Climate and Adapted Land Use - Implementation Phase |