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Abstract

Since its inception, the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology has sought to understand Earth’s climate system, using as its principal tool comprehensive Earth system modeling. It was here, in 1996, that a group led by Klaus Hasselmann identified clearly and for the first time the human fingerprint on global warming. And now, looking out across the decade to come, we are keenly aware of the urgency to expand our understanding of the climate system and the multiple forces acting to change it.
This 2020 Vision formulates our scientific goals, the intellectual challenges inherent in them, and the conceptual questions that will guide our future research – and further shape our scientific identity.