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Mötesplats Rydberg: Moa Sporre and Erik Swietlicki "Climate is changing fast – Is there still hope?"

Europe/Stockholm
Rydbergsalen (Fysiska institutionen-Physics Department)

Rydbergsalen

Fysiska institutionen-Physics Department

Description

Climate is changing fast. How fast? How can we know how much CO2 and other greenhouse gases we can still emit into the atmosphere? Climate models have been our best tools to provide such estimates. At Lund University, we coordinate the Strategic Research Area (SFO) MERGE that is developing, not only climate models, but Earth system models (ESM). These take into account also life on Earth, on land and in the oceans, and are necessary in order to explain the numerous feedback mechanisms of the Earth system and their response to increased greenhouse gas concentrations and temperatures.

Since 40 years, researchers in the Aerosol Group at the Division of Nuclear Physics have been involved in this line of research. We are now developing models on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, models that are benchmarked against observations on ground, for instance at our background station at Hyltemossa in northern Skåne, and from space. Our observation and models are being used to narrow down the uncertainties in predictions of future climate change.

And then, of course, there remains the largest source of uncertainty in our ability to predict future climate change, a factor that is not properly handled in or current climate models. Guess which? You will find out if you come and listen.