Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)

June 2022

General News

Past Events

Upcoming Events

People 

Publications  

 

General News

OCCR featured in Annual Report of the University

OCCR featured in Annual Report of the University

The work of the OCCR is prominently featured in the digital Annual Report 2021 of the University of Bern. For example, a story highlights a study by Ana Vicedo (Climate Change and Health group) on heat-related deaths as well as the “Urban Climate Bern” research project (including several videos).

Another story is dedicated to a study by Hubertus Fischer (Past Climate and Biogeochemical Studies on Ice Cores group) on the reconstruction of global mean ocean temperatures for selected periods of time over the past 700'000 years.

Dr Alfred Bretscher Fonds: three new PhD Fellowships granted in 2022

The “Dr Alfred Bretscher Fonds for Climate and Air Pollution Research” at the University of Bern / OCCR has provided funding for three new PhD projects starting in 2022:

  • “Revisiting heat stress: assessment of the combined effect of humidity and heat on health from an epidemiological perspective”; PhD project for Sidharth Sivaraj supervised by Ana Vicedo
  • “Agricultural adaptations to increasing drought extremes and their feedbacks on catchment hydrology”; PhD Project for Malve Heinz supervised by Annelie Holzkämper, Bettina Schaefli and Christoph Raible
  • “Influence of Land Surface Temperature on Permafrost Dynamics - a Northern Hemisphere Perspective of the last 40 Years”; PhD project for Sonia Dupuis supervised by Stefan Wunderle

Brochure on the great drought of 1947

Brochure on the great drought of 1947

In an interdisciplinary collaboration, OCCR researchers have just published a brochure on the record summer of 1947. 75 years ago, Switzerland experienced a summer of heat and drought that was remembered for decades as the "great drought". The brochure delineates how this record summer of 1947 evolved and adds some lessons learned for the future.

In fact, what has been considered a ‘great drought’ in the past might become quite normal by the end of the century, and much worse if no mitigation measures are taken. For the time being the publication can only be downloaded in German, an English version will follow. Read more and see interviews with contemporary witnesses.

Parliament meets science

On 2 May 2022, the event “Trendwende Klima und Biodiversität: Parlament trifft Wissenschaft” (Turning the tide on climate and biodiversity: Parliament meets science) took place at the Federal Palace, where parliamentarians discussed the challenges of the climate and biodiversity crisis with researchers. Several OCCR members took part in the introductory presentations and the subsequent discussion. Among the speakers were Markus Fischer (Plant Ecology group), Thomas Frölicher (Ocean Modelling group) and Karin Ingold (Policy Analysis and Environmental Governance group). Further information.

New tool for emergency planning for extreme floods

New tool for emergency planning for extreme floods

The Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks at the University of Bern shows that far greater floods are possible in Switzerland than previously assumed. These extreme events underline the importance of supra-regional emergency planning.

A new modelling tool is intended to help manage large floods. (Read press release in German.) An event on this new tool met with great interest from the media. For example, it was presented in the Tagesschau of the Swiss television SRF. (See articles on the media event in the Press Coverage section of our Website.)

Past Events

Successful relaunch of Apéro Series

OCCR apero series

The PhD students of the Policy Analysis and Environmental Governance group were hosts of get together at the Institute of Political Science on 26 April 2022 where they presented their research projects. A dozen OCCR PhDs and PostDocs met for the first issue of the newly launched "Apéro" series.

These events aim to improve networking among the young researchers at the Oeschger Centre. A second event should follow in fall.

Heat in the city

Some 70 representatives of public administration, members NGOs and politicians met on 23 May 2022 for a networking event on the topic of heat in the city. The half-day meeting was entitled "Bern responds to climate change: research and practice” was jointly organized by the OCCR, the city of Bern, and the energy provider ewb. See articles on the event in the Press Coverage section of the OCCRs Website.

Upcoming Events

Thomas Zurbuchen talks on space research

Thomas Zurbuchen, who is a member of the NASA Leadership Team, will give a talk in room 099 of the ExWi building on 24 June 2022 14:30 – 16:00. As the Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) he is responsible for directing and overseeing NASA’s space research program in Earth and space science. Thomas Zurbuchen will talk about recent developments in Earth Observation and Space Missions. This lecture is co-organized by the OCCR and the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bern.

Lecture by Naomi Oreskes - Why Trust Science?

The OCCR is organizing a talk and discussion with Naomi Oreskes, Harvard University, USA. It will take place in room 099, Institute of Physics, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern on Thursday, 30 June, 2022, 15:15 – 16:30. The title of the talk is "Why Trust Science?”. An Apéro will be served after the lecture. Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. As world-renowned geologist, historian, and speaker, she is a leading voice on the role of science in society and the reality of anthropogenic climate change. Her research interests include History of Environmental Science, Politics of Science, Philosophy of Science, Science and Religion, Technology and Society, and Women's and Gender Studies.

Plenary meeting on 12 September 2022

The next OCCR Plenary Meeting will take place on Monday, 12 September 2022 14.00 – 17.00. Save the date! Program and registration will be made available by the end of June 2022.

Volcanic Fingerprints in Ice-cores Workshop

On 1 October 2022 the OCCR’s Past Volcanism and Climate Impact group will organize a one-day workshop focusing on all aspects of records of volcanism in ice cores and their implications. The workshop will bring together researchers who focus on extracting records of volcanism from ice cores, and who use proxies such as chemical indicators, tephra and cryptotephra and sulphur isotope analysis.

People

High distinction for Martin Grosjean

Martin Grosjean, the Director of the Oeschger Centre, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (Germany). The Leopoldina is the oldest scientific and medical learned society in the German-speaking world and the oldest permanently existing Academy of Natural Sciences in the world. It has around 1’600 members.

Gunter Stober promoted

Gunter Stober, Associate Professor (Privatdozent) at the Institute for Applied Physics, was promoted to Dozent I on 1 April 2022. He now heads the OCCR group Atmospheric Processes and Radiometry.

Ana Vicedo contributes to book by Greta Thunberg

Ana Vicedo (Climate and Health group) was invited to write a chapter on the impact of heat on mortality for a new book to be released by Greta Thunberg this fall. “I have decided to use my platform to create a book based on the current best available science – a book that covers the climate, ecological and sustainability crises holistically”, Thunberg said in a statement. In “The Climate Book” Thunberg has assembled more than 100 contributors, from scientists Johan Rockström and Katharine Hayhoe to economist Thomas Piketty and novelist Margaret Atwood.

Poster award for Linnea Bühler, Angela-Maria Burgdorf and Giulia Wienhues

Three out of four awardees of the Swiss Global Change Day poster competition 2022 are members of the OCCR. Linnea Bühler, Master student in the Earth System Modelling - Atmospheric Dynamics group (poster title: “Source Regions of Sea Salt Aerosols from Dome C, Antarctica”) and Giulia Wienhues, PhD researcher in the Paleolimnology group (poster title: “Multiproxy paleolimnological reconstruction of Lake Victoria's environmental history", were awarded in the category "Geosphere & Biosphere”. Angela-Maria Burgdorf is a PhD researcher in the Climatology group. She was awarded the prize in the category “Atmosphere & Hydrosphere” for her poster “A written path to the past. A global inventory of quantitative documentary evidence related to climate since the Late Medieval Period”.

Profile story on Suz Everingham

Suz Everingham (Community ecology group) holds a PostDoc position funded by the OCCR. She coordinates a global research network called the Bug-Network. Read the unusual story of a young biologist on the OCCR Website who has moved from the ocean in Australia to the River Aare.­

Researchers who have recently joined the OCCR:

Niklaus Bartlome is a new PhD with the Environmental History and Historical Climatology group. His research focuses on historical viticulture. He writes a thesis titled: “Wine and Volcanoes: Distal socio-economic impacts of big volcanic eruptions, especially on the early modern Swiss viticulture”. Niklaus holds a MA in History from the University of Bern.

Alistair Bell is new PostDoc with the Atmospheric Processes and Radiometry group. His research focuses on ground-based remote sensing, middle atmosphere water vapor, optimal estimation. He did his PhD at the Université Paul Sabatier / CNRM Toulouse on “Improvements in Fog Forecasts through Cloud Radar and Microwave Radiometer Synergy”.

Onno Doensen is a new PhD with the Earth System Modelling - Atmospheric Dynamics group. Before studying climate sciences, he did a MSc in Meteorology at the University of Wageningen. His research focus is on the effects of climate variability and anthropogenic global warming on the presence and intensity of extratropical cyclones in the Mediterranean during the late Holocene.

Sonia Dupuis is a new PhD with the Climatology group. She is affiliated with the OCCR Graduate School of Climate Sciences, and her work is funded by the Dr. Alfred Bretscher Fund (see above). Her thesis will focus on «The influence of Land Surface Temperature on Permafrost Dynamics – a Northern Hemisphere Perspective of the last 40 years». She completed her Master studies at EPFL in environmental engineering, where she studied atmospheric correction for satellite imagery.

Michael Flütsch is a new PhD with the Environmental History and Historical Climatology group, focusing on history of avalanche protection in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, history of protection forests in Switzerland 1876-1991. He holds a MA from the University of Bern.

Andrew Friedman is a new PostDoc with the Climatology group. He is a Marie Skłodovska-Curie Actions research fellow. His project, Assessing and QUantifying the ATlantic Instrumental hydroClimate (AQUATIC), is compiling measurements of precipitation, river discharge, and surface salinity to develop an integrated record of tropical Atlantic regional hydroclimate back to the late-19th century. Previously he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh and the Pierre and Marie Curie / Sorbonne University in Paris. He received his PhD in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley.

Fabrice Lacroix is a new PostDoc with the Ocean Modelling group. He will be part of the H2020-PROVIDE project (www.provide-h2020.eu) and will assess reversible and irreversible changes in physical and biogeochemical properties of the ocean under future scenarios that temporarily overshoot the Paris Agreement temperature thresholds. The focus of Fabrice’s research will be on extreme events and the crossing of important tipping points.

Fiona Leu is a new PhD with the Climate Change and the Law: Challenges in Practice and Legal group. Her research focus lies on Law in the Anthropocene, Rights of Nature, mediative procedures, procedural law, new social theories, New Legal Materialism.

Renaud Matthey is a new scientific staff member with the Atmospheric Processes and Radiometry group. His research focus is on atmospheric remote sensing and profiling, clouds, an aerosol particles. He did his PhD at the University of Neuchâtel on aerosol and cloud lidar instrumentation and has has been working there as a scientific collaborator for many years.

Johannes Reich is a PhD with the Prehistoric Archaeology group within the ERC Synergy project EXPLO. He holds a MA from the University of Bern and is writing his thesis about "Prehistoric lakeside settlements in the southwestern Balkans".

Sophie Ruprecht is a new PhD with the Comparative Politics group. Her research focuses on information effects and social acceptance of renewable energy. She holds a MA in Comparative and Swiss Politics from the University of Bern.

Stan Schouten is a new PhD with the Lake Sediments and Paleolimnology group. He completed his MSc in Earth Sciences (Earth, surface and water) at Utrecht University, NL in 2021. Stan will work in the SNF project “Biochemical responses of lakes to rapid climate transitions across space and time: insights from novel high-resolution analyses of sediments from Europe and Northern China”, which runs from 2022 to 2026.

Rebeka Sträter

Rebeka Sträter is a PhD with the Comparative Politics group. She holds a MA in Political Science from the University of Bern, Institute of Political Science. She started her PhD at  the Institute of Political Science in 2021. Her thesis project, funded by SNF Sinergia, is called “Socio-technological Breakthrough of Thermal Energy Storage (SOTES)”.

Petra Zahajská

Petra Zahajská is a new PostDoc with the Lake Sediments and Paleolimnology group. She will work in a new SNF project called “Biochemical responses of lakes to rapid climate transitions across space and time: insights from novel high-resolution analyses of sediments from Europe and Northern China”, which will last until 2026. Petra completed her PhD at Lund University, Sweden, where she worked on elemental cycling (Si, Ge, Fe, C, H, and N elements) in lakes. For the new project, she will work on lake biogeochemical responses to Dansgaard-Oeschger Events and past Interglacials.

Guillaume Zumofen

Guillaume Zumofen is a new PhD with the Comparative Politics group. He holds a MA from the University of Bern. His main research areas are social acceptance of seasonal thermal energy storage (STES), information selection and decision making in a direct democracy, filing and acceptance of energy policies in the Swiss Parliament.

A warm welcome to all of you!

Researchers who have recently left the OCCR:

Marcel Bühler who finished his PhD Student with the Climatology group will start a PostDoc in the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering at Aarhus University in Denmark.

Daniel Baggenstos, who was a PostDoc with the Past Climate and Biogeochemical Studies on Ice Cores group has joined the «Australian Antarctic Division» in Hobart.
 
 Camilla Jensen who finished her PhD with the Past Climate and Biogeochemical Studies on Ice Cores group is currently looking for a new position.

Jurek Müller, who was a PostDoc with the Earth System Modelling – Biogeochemical Cycles group has a new position at Berner Fachhochschule where he works in the topical research area of «smart cities».

All the best for your future career!

Recent journal publications by OCCR members

See all the publications by OCCR members.