Niklas Merz

(DBU-Fellow)

Contact

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
Department Compound Environmental Risks (CER)

Permoserstraße 15
04318 Leipzig
Germany
niklas.merz@ufz.de

photo Niklas Merz

About me

I am a PhD researcher exploring how anthropogenic climate change is influencing complex extreme events, with a particular focus on their impacts (impact attribution).

Many of these events are increasingly classified as so-called compound extreme events, in which multiple climatic factors interact on different temporal and/or spatial scales, potentially amplifying the impacts of the event. While previous attribution studies have often focused on individual variables, the analysis of compound extreme events presents a particular challenge due to their complex multivariate nature.

My PhD project uses the storyline approach and nudged climate model simulations to attribute severe compound extreme events with major societal impacts to anthropogenic climate change. The goal is to gain a better understanding of the underlying processes, how these translate into societal and environmental impacts, and to provide a scientific basis for future adaptation measures.

I am part of the Department of Compound Environmental Risks (CER) led by Dr. Jakob Zscheischler. I am supported by a PhD scholarship from the Deutsche Bundesstifung Umwelt (DBU).

Research interests


  • Compound Extreme Events
  • Probabilistic and Storyline Attribution
  • Impacts of Climate Change

Scientific career


since 2025
Doctoral researcher
2024 - 2025
Research Assistant at World Weather Attribution led by Prof. Friederike Otto
2024
Master Thesis at Imperial College London on "How Climate Change affects Droughts in South America – Copula-based Drought Analysis with an Event Attribution Case Study"
2023 - 2024
M.Sc. Climate Change at University College London
2018 - 2022
B.Sc. Physics at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

Publications

2025 (1)

2024 (2)

  • Merz, N., Clarke, B., Basconcillo, J., Philip, S., Kew, S., Pinto, I., & Singh, R. (2024):
    Climate change supercharged late typhoon season in the Philippines, highlighting the need for resilience to consecutive events
    World Weather Attribution 10.25561/116202
  • Otto, F., Giguere, J., Clarke, B., Barnes, C., Zachariah, M., Merz, N., Philip S., Kew, S., Pinto, I., & Vahlberg, M. (2024):
    When risks become reality: Extreme weather in 2024
    World Weather Attribution 10.25561/116443

2022 (1)

  • Merz, N., Hubig, A., Kleinen, T., Therre, S., Kaufmann, G., & Frank, N. (2022).:
    How the climate shapes stalagmites—A comparative study of model and speleothem at the Sofular Cave Northern Turkey
    Frontiers in Earth Science 10, 969211 10.3389/feart.2022.969211