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Oeschger Centre For Climate Change Research
The Oeschger Centre for Climate and Climate Change Research (OCCR) is the interdisciplinary centre of excellence for climate research of the University of Bern. History The centre was established in 2007 and was named after Hans Oeschger (1927-1998), a pioneer of modern climate research, who worked in Bern. The OCCR brings together researchers from nine institutes and four faculties. It has more than 200 members working in 26 research groups. The OCCR is at the forefront of international research in a number of different fields. Researchers from the University of Bern have participated as co-chair, coordinating lead authors or lead authors in all the assessment reports so far published by the IPCC. Many of them are still working today at the OCCR. In addition to research within disciplines, the OCCR puts special emphasis on interdisciplinary projects. Regionally rooted and globally linked, the OCCR hopes to find ways to meet the challenge of global climate change at many d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryosphere
The cryosphere is an umbrella term for those portions of Earth's surface where water is in solid form. This includes sea ice, ice on lakes or rivers, snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includes permafrost). Thus, there is an overlap with the hydrosphere. The cryosphere is an integral part of the global climate system. It also has important Climate change feedbacks, feedbacks on the climate system. These feedbacks come from the cryosphere's influence on surface energy and moisture fluxes, clouds, the water cycle, atmospheric and Ocean circulation, oceanic circulation. Through these feedback processes, the cryosphere plays a significant role in the global climate and in climate model response to global changes. Approximately 10% of the Earth's surface is covered by ice, but this is rapidly decreasing. Current reductions in the cryosphere (Effects of climate change, caused by climate change) are measurable in Ice sheet#Melting due to climate change, ice sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climatological Research Institutes
Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric condition during an extended to indefinite period of time; weather is the condition of the atmosphere during a relative brief period of time. The main topics of research are the study of climate variability, mechanisms of climate changes and modern climate change. This topic of study is regarded as part of the atmospheric sciences and a subdivision of physical geography, which is one of the Earth sciences. Climatology includes some aspects of oceanography and biogeochemistry. The main methods employed by climatologists are the analysis of observations and modelling of the physical processes that determine climate. Short term weather forecasting can be interpreted in terms of knowledge of longer-term phenomena of climate, for instance cli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecophysiology
Ecophysiology (from Greek , ''oikos'', "house(hold)"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , '' -logia''), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism's physiology to environmental conditions. It is closely related to comparative physiology and evolutionary physiology. Ernst Haeckel's coinage bionomy is sometimes employed as a synonym. Plants Plant ecophysiology is concerned largely with two topics: mechanisms (how plants sense and respond to environmental change) and scaling or integration (how the responses to highly variable conditions—for example, gradients from full sunlight to 95% shade within tree canopies—are coordinated with one another), and how their collective effect on plant growth and gas exchange can be understood on this basis. In many cases, animals are able to escape unfavourable and changing environmental factors such as heat, cold, drought or floods, while plants are unable to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Stocker
Thomas F. Stocker (born 1959) is a Swiss climate scientist. Born in Zürich, Stocker obtained a degree in physics at the ETH Zurich. He was active in research at the University College London, at McGill University in Montreal and at Columbia University in New York. Since 1993, he has been a professor and head of the department of Climate and Environmental Physics at the University of Bern. The focus of Stocker's research is the development of models of climate change based on, among other, the analysis of ice cores from the polar regions. He significantly contributed to creating the " hockey stick graph" that shows a growing increase of global mean temperatures in recent times. Since 1998, he contributes to the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is co-chairman of the IPCC Working Group I (assessing scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change) from 2008 to 2015. In 1993, Stocker was awarded the Swiss National Science Foundation's Nation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene together form the Quaternary period. The Holocene is an interglacial period within the ongoing Ice age, glacial cycles of the Quaternary, and is equivalent to Marine isotope stages, Marine Isotope Stage 1. The Holocene correlates with the last maximum axial tilt towards the Sun of the Earth#Axial tilt and seasons, Earth's obliquity. The Holocene corresponds with the rapid proliferation, growth, and impacts of the human species worldwide, including Recorded history, all of its written history, technological revolutions, development of major civilizations, and overall significant transition towards urban culture, urban living in the present. The human impact on modern-era Earth and its ecosystems may be considered of global significance for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek () 'most' and (; Latinized as ) 'new'. The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was strongly variable depending on the glacial cycle, oscillating between cold Glacial period, glacial periods and warmer Interglacial, int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeoecology
Paleoecology (also spelled palaeoecology) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs a variety of fields including paleontology, ecology, climatology and biology. Paleoecology emerged from the field of paleontology in the 1950s, though paleontologists have conducted paleoecological studies since the creation of paleontology in the 1700s and 1800s. Combining the investigative approach of searching for fossils with the theoretical approach of Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt, paleoecology began as paleontologists began examining both the ancient organisms they discovered and the reconstructed environments in which they lived. Visual depictions of past marine and terrestrial communities have been considered an early form of paleoecology. The term "paleo-ecology" was coined by Frederic Clements in 1916. Overview of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeoclimatology
Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the reconstruction of ancient climate is important to understand natural variation and the evolution of the current climate. Paleoclimatology uses a variety of proxy methods from Earth and life sciences to obtain data previously preserved within rocks, sediments, boreholes, ice sheets, tree rings, corals, shells, and microfossils. Combined with techniques to date the proxies, the paleoclimate records are used to determine the past states of Earth's atmosphere. The scientific field of paleoclimatology came to maturity in the 20th century. Notable periods studied by paleoclimatologists include the frequent glaciations that Earth has undergone, rapid cooling events like the Younger Dryas, and the rapid warming durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Effects Of Climate Change
Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an Instrumental temperature record, overall warming trend, Effects of climate change on the water cycle, changes to precipitation patterns, and more extreme weather. As the climate changes it impacts the natural environment with effects such as more intense forest fires, thawing permafrost, and desertification. These changes impact ecosystems and societies, and can become irreversible once Tipping points in the climate system, tipping points are crossed. Climate activists are engaged in a range of activities around the world that seek to ameliorate these issues or prevent them from happening. The effects of climate change vary in timing and location. Up until now the polar amplification, Arctic has warmed faster than most other regions due to climate change feedbacks. Surface air temperatures over land have also increased at ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has governmental institutions such as the Federal Assembly (Switzerland), Federal Assembly and Federal Council (Switzerland), Federal Council. However, the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, Federal Supreme Court is in Lausanne, the Federal Criminal Court of Switzerland, Federal Criminal Court is in Bellinzona and the Federal Administrative Court (Switzerland), Federal Administrative Court and the Federal Patent Court (Switzerland), Federal Patent Court are in St. Gallen, exemplifying the federal nature of the Confederation. With a population of about 146,000 (), Bern is the List of cities in Switzerland, fifth-most populous city in Switzerland, behind Zürich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Global Climate Change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global temperatures is driven by human activities, especially fossil fuel burning since the Industrial Revolution. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices release greenhouse gases. These gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight, warming the lower atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, the primary gas driving global warming, has increased in concentration by about 50% since the pre-industrial era to levels not seen for millions of years. Climate change has an increasingly large impact on the environment. Deserts are expanding, while heat waves and wildfires are becoming more common. Amplified warming in the Arctic has contri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
