[Pluslucis] Vortrag 18.1.2010: Klimawandel - Physikalische Basis und letzte Resultate

[Helmut Kuehnelt]

Wiener Physikalisches Kolloquium

Montag, 18. Jänner 2010, 17:30 Uhr
(ab 17:00 Uhr Kaffee)
Universität Wien
Lise Meitner Hörsaal
Strudlhofgasse 4/1. Stock, 1090 Wien

Climate Change: The Physical Basis and Latest Results

Thomas Stocker
Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute
Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern

The latest Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change (IPCC) concludes: "Warming in the climate system is unequivocal." 
Without the contribution of Physics to climate science over many 
decades, such a statement would not have been possible. Experimental 
physics enables us to read climate archives such as polar ice cores and 
so provides the context for the current changes. For example, today the 
concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, the second most important 
greenhouse gas, is 29% higher than any time during the last 800,000 
years. Classical fluid mechanics and numerical mathematics are the basis 
of climate models from which estimates of future climate change are 
obtained. But major instabilities and surprises in the Earth System are 
still unknown. Only Physics will permit us to further improve our 
understanding in order to provide the foundation for policy decisions 
facing the global climate change challenge.

-- 
Dr. Helmut Kühnelt
Universität Wien - Fakultät für Physik
Österr. Kompetenzzentrum für Didaktik der Physik
Verein zur Förderung des physikalischen und chemischen Unterrichts
Währinger Str. 17
1090 Wien