Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)

News 2018

Preface by Thomas Stocker to the interview with Prof. Christian Pfister

My colleague Christian Pfister is a pioneer: through the ground-breaking work he has done in connecting climate history with quantitative climate science. Not by merely telling stories (he can do that too!), what lay people would expect from historians, but by means of indices, time series, geographical location, stored in the electronic medium. This is how interdisciplinarity emerges, and Christian Pfister laid the foundations for it at the University of Bern. Climate research is not limited to physics, biology and geography, but today it obviously includes the historical and social sciences. It is thanks to Christian Pfister that we in Bern were able to benefit from this expansion at an early stage.
Read more

Diagram explaining the climatic connection between the North Atlantic and Antarctica

The polar regions communicate via "postcards" and "text messages"

29 November 2018

The OCCR was involved in a new study that has found two types of climatic connection between the North Atlantic and Antarctica. One is a rapid atmospheric channel and the other a much slower connection through the ocean. During the last glacial period, these links resulted in abrupt climatic changes – and could so again in future.

Climate Scenarios CH2018: the warming continues

13 November 2018

Switzerland is becoming drier, hotter and less snowy, and will struggle with heavier rainfall in the future – these are the conclusions reached by climate researchers from MeteoSwiss, ETH Zurich and the OCCR. Today, they presented the Climate Scenarios CH2018 produced on behalf of the Federal Council. These form the basis for the climate change adaptation strategy of the federal government.
Read more.

(Platform for exploration drilling of the University of Bern for sea sediments at Lake Kastoria, 2017. Picture: University of Bern/André Lotter.)

6,4 Million Euros for research into the birth of agriculture in Europe

23 October 2018

An interdisciplinary team from the universities of Bern (Oeschger Centre), Oxford and Thessaloniki was awarded a grant of 6.4 million euros from the European Research Council (ERC). The team included researchers from the fields of archeology and biology. They received one of the highly competitive “ERC Synergy Grants”. Aided by studies conducted in the lakes in Greece and in the south of the Balkans, the project should show how the climate, environment and agriculture have developed over the last 10,000 years and what influences these factors have had on each other.

A Bernese Summer

20 August 2018

32 students from 11 nations participated at the first International Bachelor Summer School for Climate Change Research co-organized by the OCCR. The two-week event was entitled “Confronting Climate Change - from Science to Policy” and brought together students from different disciplines, including natural sciences, economics, and law. Participants were full of praise for high level lectures, the interdisciplinary focus, and the joys of summer in Bern.

1868 - a flood that changed Switzerland

12 September 2018

The OCCR has launched a new publication called “1868 - a flood that changed Switzerland”. This 60 pages strong brochure, written for an non-scientific audience, is the fruit of the collaboration of researchers from all fields of the OCCR. The project has produced an in-depth analysis and reconstruction of the flood that affected large parts of the Alpine region in Switzerland in autumn 1868. The brochure can be downloaded free of charge.
Read more (in German) and see a video (in German) that explains the methods used for the reconstruction of the flood of 1868 (in German).

Marine heatwaves are threatening ecosystems

15 August 2018

Marine heatwaves can irreversibly damage ecosystems and, therefore, also present a threat to fishing. As a team led by OCCR memberThomas Frölicher showed in a study just published in the journal Nature, the number of marine heatwaves has increased dramatically in past decades. This trend will further intensify as a result of climate change.

Hot city summer

2 August 2018

A dense network to measure temperature in Bern provides a detailed three dimensional picture of this summer’s heatwave. OCCR researcher show that the differences between single points of measurement within the city of Bern as well as in its surroundings may differ up to 4 °C. This is an important piece of information to plan measures against heat stress.

Lessons about a future warmer world using data from the past

25 June 2018

A workshop in Bern in April 2017 which was funded by PAGES and the OCCR on the Past Global Changes integrated activity "Warmer Worlds" has now led to a publication in Nature Geoscience. “Warmer Worlds” uses paleoclimate evidence to assess a future warming. The assessment of past warm periods by an international team of 59 scientists from 17 nations, shows that in response to the warming ecosystems and climate zones will spatially shift and on millennial time scales ice sheets will substantially shrink.

Top of Europe» for greenhouse gas measurements

18 June 2018

The research station at Jungfraujoch where the OCCR group „Environmental Isotopes and Gases“ plays a prominent role is at the top of Europe – and not only because of its unique location. Within the framework of the European research infrastructure „Integrated Carbon Observation System" (ICOS), the laboratory in the heart of the Alps is now officially certified. ICOS provides data to better understand the global carbon cycle and how human activities affect it. The backbone of ICOS is a network of stations that have to meet the highest quality standards.

A collective reminder for forgetful Switzerland

28 May 2018

At the OCCR, the Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks aims to better inform authorities and the public about the risks associated with flooding. For this reason, it’s creating an interactive online database of images illustrating floods: the “Collective Flood Memory”.

Publishing with Nature

20 May 2018

On 26 June 2018, Michael White, Nature’s editor for climate science will talk at the OCCR on “Publishing with Nature: a climate science perspective”. The presentation takes place at 14:15 in room B5 at the ExWi building, Sidlerstr. 5, Bern. In his presentation, Michael White will give an insight into the inner workings of high profile journal. Subjects raised include: How does Nature decide what to publish? How is the process managed? What are the odds of getting published? Does the journal publish papers only in the interests of being controversial and getting press coverage? And who makes the decisions?

ERC Advanced Grant for Climate Reconstructions

18 April 2018

OCCR researcher Stefan Brönnimann has received a grant of 3 million Swiss francs from the European Research Council for the next five years. The goal of the funded project PALAEO-RA is to produce a comprehensive reconstruction of global climate of the past six centuries, a palaeo-reanalysis. The reconstruction will provide globally complete, three dimensional monthly fields of many variables and thus allows dynamical interpretations of past climate events. The project combines numerical modelling and mathematical techniques with historical documentary data and measurements, and dynamical analyses.

Climatology Textbook

3 March 2018

Stefan Brönnimann the head of the OCCR’s Climatology group has just published a new textbook (in German). «Klimatologie» is part of the UTB basics series and offers fundamentals of Climatology for first year students in Geography. The 320 pages strong book provides foundations in physics, describes the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean and explains the resulting climate. Additionally, climate variability and climate change as well as methodological aspects are discussed.

A thermometer for the oceans

4 January 2018

The average sea temperature is an essential parameter of the global climate – but it is very difficult to measure. At least until now, because an international team of researchers including OCCR scientists have now developed a novel method using the concentration of noble gases in the eternal ice. This allows conclusions to be drawn on the changes in sea temperature from the last ice age to the present day.