Renewable energy, new simulations, and newcomers at nextGEMS´ final hackathon in Stockholm

The nextGEMS project has entered its final phase and will come to an end in August, 2025. But before going separate ways, our project  members and partners gather one last time for the sixth nextGEMS hackathon from March 24th to 28th. In the stylish surroundings of Stockholm city, the Swedish Museum of Natural History, the largest museum of the Nordic country, hosts “The Final Countdown”. This time, the participants´ challenge is centered around how the high-resolution capabilities enabled by nextGEMS simulations can support and enhance renewable energy applications in a changing climate.

The first day kicked off with the arrival of a diverse group of scientists, stakeholders, students, and climate enthusiasts that totaled 73 registered participants. Within the museum´s classic setting, the introductory session evolved into an active and engaging conversation. Representatives from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) and the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), updated the audience on the progress being made with the simulations of the ICON and IFS-FESOM Earth System models. 

Tobias Becker, researcher from the ECMWF, presented insights on two simulations at 2.8 km resolution, produced with 14 months of new data using the IFS-FESOM model. These recent advancements add local granularity and allow to check if atmospheric phenomena previously analyzed at coarser or less detailed resolutions also show up at this higher resolution. Additionally, he reported on two 30-year simulations – historical and scenario-based – at 9 km resolution that should provide valuable information on how extreme events change in warming climate, such as tropical cyclones.

The different thematic groups—Storms & Land, Storms & Ocean, Storms & Radiation, and Storms & Society— discussed their newest achievements and upcoming challenges. Dragana Bojovic, from the Storms & Society group, for example, talked about the survey analysis from the past five hackathons, as well as of the work on renewable energy and fisheries storylines. This time, a new group joined the Stockholm hackathon: the renewable energy group. This group includes not only researchers, but also different industry stakeholders, such as people working at Vestas, Satkraft, Anemos, and local participants, addressing future energy scenarios for 2050.

To conclude the day, participants took part in an ice-breaker session, which included a micro-poster activity designed to enrich conversations and connections through the use of visualizations. Some of the first-time participants in the event, like Diego Garcia and Antonio Robles from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain, shared posters illustrating their observations on historical data regarding snow coverage along the Spanish highlands and future changes in Tropical Basin interactions, created with the IFS-FESOM model.