Regional Climate Dynamics

Our second research focus deals with climate variability and climate changes at local and regional levels. The Alps are particularly sensitive to such changes. In order to estimate the effects of climate change in Switzerland, it is necessary to understand processes at a very high degree of temporal and spatial resolution.

The North Atlantic European area determines weather conditions above the Alps, but climate changes and the extreme weather events they cause have a considerably greater impact at a local and regional level than globally. Research in the "Regional Climate Dynamics" focus is therefore central to the analysis of climate risks and the effects of climate change in the Alpine area, the subject of the Oeschger Centre's third focus.