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BALTEX
The Baltic Sea experiment (BALTEX) is one of the five continental-scale experiments of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX). BALTEX aims to provide a better understanding of the processes of the climate system and to improve and to validate the water cycle in regional numerical models for weather forecasting and climate studies. A major effort is undertaken to couple interactively the atmosphere with the vegetated continental surfaces and the Baltic Sea including its sea-ice. Major achievements have been obtained in an improved understanding of related exchange processes. For the first time an interactive atmosphere-ocean-land surface model for the BALTEX area was tested. The "Institut f?r Meereskunde" has been involved in BALTEX since the beginning in several projects, comprehending both, modelling and measuring activities. This includes the investigation of the energy and water cycle from global numerical models like the NCAR/NCEP-re-analysis projects as well as the development of a fully coupled regional atmosphere-ocean model based on the regional atmospheric model REMO and the coupled sea-ice-ocean model BSIOM. Due to the lack of suitable instruments to measure precipitation under high wind speeds, the development of a new ship rain gauge started several years ago within the frame of WOCE (World Ocean Experiment) and was completed within BALTEX. This new type of ship rain gauges has been mounted on several merchant ships travelling from Germany to Finland to perform routinely precipitation measurements over the Baltic Sea. Major contributions to BALTEX have been provided by the IfM Kiel through the EU Projects BASYS (Baltic Sea System Study, 1996-1999) and PEP (Pilot Study of Evaporation and Precipitation in BALTEX, 1998-2000) and the BMBF-funded project Water Cycle (1994- 2000). Within a DFG-funded project, the Kiel Baltic Sea model (BSIOM) has been coupled to the regional atmospheric model REMO to study the coupling mechanisms on a regional scale. For more information, link to "http://w3.gkss.de/baltex/baltex_home.html" [Summary provided by Andreas Villwock]