Thomas Stocker, president of the Oeschger Centre and a professor of climate and environmental physics, has been awarded this year’s Marcel Benoist Science Prize which is regarded as the most important Swiss Science Prize.
Oeschger Seminar Series
The OCCR presents a touring exhibition on climate research for the general public, called Container3. It is installed in sea containers and tours six city districts of Bern from mid-August to mid-September 2017. The show is realized in cooperation with the city of Bern which will present, in its own containers, topics related to energy and mobility.
The Oeschger Centre is the scientific partner of an event called “The climate garden – plants of the future” at the botanical garden of the University of Bern. Part of this experience is a series of open air talks (in German) which will feature OCCR researchers.
The people in Switzerland were on the move in the High Alps and running alpine pastures 7,000 years ago and therefore much earlier than previously assumed. A study by the University of Bern that combines archaeological knowledge with findings from palaeoecology comes to this conclusion. Prehistoric finds from the Schnidejoch Pass played a crucial part in this.
7 February 2017
With new methods of reconstruction, climate researchers of the Oeschger Centre have been able to demonstrate that some 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, the Mediterranean climate was considerably warmer than previous studies had suggested. Among other things, previous concerns regarding the reliability of climate models could thus be dispelled.
12 December 2016
One of the worst meteorological disasters in history took place in the southeastern Alps during the infamous winter of 1916 /17. Avalanches following a massive snowfall event killed thousands of soldiers as well as civilians. Novel insight into the event arises from an interdisciplinary study conducted at the Oeschger Centre. It provides detailed reconstruction based on weather forecast models and shows the potential of combining numerical techniques with historical documents.
1 November 2016
The Swiss Alpine Museum (alps) has teamed up with the Oeschger Centre as a scientific partner for an exhibition. The show is called “Our Water: Six Models for the Future“. OCCR researchers have provided input and guidance for the concept of this challenging exhibition which promises to take a look into the future while making the link between research and fiction. Starting from the current scientific standpoint, four contemporary authors have come up with six models for our future existence with water.
31 August 2016
American born tree-ring specialist David Frank came to Switzerland to do a PhD. He stayed for almost 15 years and ended up as the Principal Investigator of the OCCR’s Dendroclimatology group at the WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research). Now, as he explains in this interview, he will move on to direct the oldest and largest lab for tree-ring research in the world, the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona in Tucson. This is a big achievement not only for David Frank, but for the Oeschger Centre as well.
20 September 2016
For 15 years now, the OCCR summer school has been attracting both young researchers and experienced scientists to Grindelwald. In a relaxed atmosphere far from the ivory towers of academia, young scientists from around the world can network with their peers and engage with their role models.
22 April 2016
Heinz Wanner the founding president of the OCCR and retired professor of climatology has published a new book
entitled „Klima und Mensch – eine 12'000 jährige Geschichte“ (Climate and man –12'000 years of history).
30 May 2016
Members of the Oeschger Centre, in a common effort, have published an new brochure on the 1815 Tambora eruption an its consequences for climate an society.
24 April 2016
Although hail causes extensive damage, there hasn't been a comprehensive monitoring network -- until now. Researchers at the Oeschger Centre's Mobiliar Lab are using data on damaged vehicles plus hail reports from the population to improve hail warnings.
24 April 2016
The Oeschger Centre is part of the newly established Swiss Polar Institute, and several of its researchers will take part in the SPI’s first major project: the first scientific expedition set to completely circumnavigate Antarctica.
21 March 2016
A group of Master students of the OCCR’s Graduate School of Climate Sciences has realized a short documentary called Take the floor that is based on interviews conducted at COP 21.
12 February 2016
The ocean surrounding Antarctica, which oceanographers often refer to as the Southern Ocean, plays an important role in regulating the Earth’s climate evolution. It absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere on one hand, but releases natural carbon as well. How will this buffer work in the future? Will the Southern Ocean continue to help reduce greenhouse gases, or will it increasingly serve as a source of them? At the Oeschger Centre, several climate research teams are searching for answers.
20 January 2016
The Paris Agreement of the UN climate change conference is deemed a historic step for climate protection, but its success depends on rapid implementations. The consequences of delaying global CO2 emission reductions for the climate and the world oceans are assessed in a new study by climate physicists from the Oeschger Centre.
30 November 2015
The online database “Euro-Climhist” supports research and public participation in the analysis of natural hazards. An expanded version of this unique database has just been launched. It has more than 155,000 historical records on weather, climate and natural hazards in Switzerland dating back as far as the year 1500.
12 November 2015
What makes flood control projects successful? This is the question answered in a new study by the University of Bern’s Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks. Its findings? Among other things, all stakeholders need to be involved as early as possible. In addition, popular acceptance of projects is more likely if recreation areas are created.
20 October 2015
A number of dry summers in central and southern Europe between 1945 and 1954 led to poor harvests. About 30 years later, the Sahel region suffered from deadly drought. Both events were related to a shift of the tropical belt. This is shown in the latest paper of the Oeschger Centre's climatology group published in Nature Geoscience.
8 September 2015
On 5 October delegates from 195 countries will elect the new chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Dubrovnik, Croatia. One of the five candidates for this most important job in climate science is Thomas Stocker. He is a professor for Climate and Environmental Physics at the University of Bern and a member of the Oeschger Centre. In an interview he talks about his election campaign and his plans for the future of IPCC.
11.08.2015
How did the North American vegetation and wildfire respond to climate variations before the last deglaciation? OCCR researcher Hubertus Fischer and colleagues provide answers to this question in a paper just published in the prestigious journal Nature Geosciences.
9 July 2015
Researchers at the Oeschger Centre play an important role in a Japanese documentary. At least 10 million will see this production by state TV station NHK.
3 July 2015
The ocean moderates anthropogenic atmospheric warming at the cost of profound alterations of its physics, chemistry, ecology, and ecosystem services. An international research initiative including the Oeschger Centre has published a paper in the renowned journal Science. The study evaluates and compares the risks of impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems and the goods and services they provide under two potential CO2 emission pathways over this century.
11 June 2015
A project aimed at sampling pristine sediments from deep beneath an ancient Indonesian lake is in full swing since May. A team co-led by OCCR researcher Hendrik Vogel is currently drilling from the floor of the freshwater Lake Towuti all the way down to bedrock. The sedimentary cores they produce could hold a million years of climate and environmental data and help scientists reconstruct the climate history of a region that wields a weighty influence on global climate.
4 May 2015
OCCR Member Hubertus Fischer was awarded a grant of 2.26 Million Euro by the European Research Council for research on polar ice cores. This is the climate physicist’s second project funded by one of the prestigious “ERC Advanced Grants”, illustrating the internationally top ranking ice and climate research at the Oeschger Centre.
17 March 2015
It’s been 200 years since the last major famine affected Switzerland and many other parts of Europe. The main reason was the eruption of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia, which caused a temporary cooling of the climate. To mark this event, the Oeschger Centre has organised a public panel discussion on April 8, 2015. The experts will discuss whether today’s world is prepared for such a disaster.
20 February 2015
The Federal Council has decided to nominate Oeschger Centre member Thomas Stocker from the University of Bern as a candidate for Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The term of the current present, Rajendra Pachauri, is drawing to a close. In October 2015, the members of the IPCC will elect his successor.
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