Compound weather and climate events constitute some of the largest climate risks. If processes that cause flooding, wildfires, heatwaves and droughts interact with each other, impacts might amplify. In “Nature Reviews Earth & Environment” OCCR researchers discuss how a warmer climate may lead to new, so far unexperienced, extreme weather events.
Oeschger Seminar Series
13 January 2021
The BernClim observation network is celebrating its 50th anniversary. To mark the occasion, there's a new brochure out in German: "Klimawandel und Jahreszeiten". It was produced by a team of researchers here at OCCR, and it highlights the importance of phenological observations while showing how climate change affects the seasons.
23 November 2020
With an eye on countries around the world, political scientist Marlene Kammerer researches the road from good intentions to effective climate policy.
15 December 2020
In 2020, the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern is celebrating 50 years of climate research. Now a key pillar of Bern’s internationally renowned climate research, the institute had a humble start. Stefan Brönnimann, climatology professor and OCCR member, has made a film to mark this anniversary. It offers a scientific as well as personal retrospective of this eventful period in interdisciplinary research.
7 December 2020
Bettina Schaefli joined the University of Bern a year ago as a professor of hydrology. In this interview, the OCCR member talks about the risks of water and electricity shortages, the importance of field research and the interest in her findings.
10 November 2020
OCCR members Chantal Camenisch and Heli Huhtamaa were part of the editing team of the latest issue of the Past Global Changes Magazine which presents the state of research in the field of historical climatology. Its articles examine different regions of the world and review innovative methodological approaches, recent scientific results, and analyses of new source materials.
30 October 2020
Frerk Pöppelmeier is working towards a better understanding of the Atlantic circulation. At the OCCR, the geoscientist has found exactly the expertise in climate modelling that he needed to advance his research. He’s combining his knowledge of environmental proxies with the unique capacities of the Bern 3D model.
5 October 2020
Because of its complex topography and an exceptional hail data base, Switzerland is a perfect laboratory for hail research. It is regularly affected by severe thunderstorms which cause substantial damage and represent high costs for insurance companies. The Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks explains in a new video (in German) why Swiss hail research is unique.
24 September 2020
Heatwaves in the world’s oceans have become over 20 times more frequent due to human influence. This is what researchers from the OCCR are now able to prove. Marine heatwaves destroy ecosystems and damage fisheries.
21 August 2020
Even in earlier warm periods there were pulse-like releases of CO₂ to the atmosphere. Today's anthropogenic CO₂ rise, however, is more than six times larger and almost ten times faster than previous jumps in the CO₂ concentration. This is the conclusion reached by a European research team led by the OCCR.
25 June 2020
The OCCR’s Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks has launched a novel online tool that shows the possible extent of damage from floods throughout Switzerland. The Flood Damage Simulator is based on innovative models developed by the Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks, derived from data on round 15,000 flood insurance claims across all of Switzerland.
22 June 2020
An international team of scientists and historians including OCCR members has found evidence connecting an unexplained period of extreme cold in ancient Rome with an unlikely source: a massive eruption of Alaska’s Okmok volcano, located on the opposite side of the Earth.
6 June 2020
Floods not only cause great distress to the affected communities, but also result in high costs. For this reason, the Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks at the University of Bern launched a research initiative entitled “Flood-Risk Research Initiative – From Theory to Practice”. The goal is to offer a sound basis and innovative tools for the sustainable management of flood risks. The Research Initiative’s new website is now online.
17 June 2020
The Arctic Ocean will take up more CO2 over the 21st century than predicted by most climate models. This additional CO2 causes a distinctly stronger ocean acidification. These results were published in a study by climate scientists from the OCCR and École normale supérieure in Paris. Ocean acidification can have serious consequences for the entire food chain.
19 May 2020
Maria Leunda, recently named a postdoctoral fellow at the OCCR, has received the prestigious Harper Prize for young researchers in the field of ecology. She won the award for a paper on Pyrenean vegetation dynamics based on data from an ice cave.
28 April 2020
As a biologist, Eric Allan who is a new member of the OCCR is searching for answers to the big questions surrounding biodiversity. How does biodiversity arise, how is it changing in the face of global and climate change and what consequences do these changes have for ecosystems?
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