Climate: Past, Present & Future

Hot towns, summer in the city!

Gert-Jan Steeneveld, associate Professor at Wageningen University, The Netherlands April 21, 2017

Figure 1: Sketch of the processes governing the urban heat island effect.

Cities obviously experience a different climate than natural landscapes. Already in 1810 the British meteorologist Luke Howard documented that the air temperature in the city of London was several degrees higher than in its surroundings. This so called urban heat island has several causes. In general the relatively dark surfaces of asphalt and roofs absorb solar radiation very efficiently and this ...[Read More]

The Climate Tango of ENSO and CO2

EGU Guest blogger March 16, 2017

In 1904, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius suggested that the burning of fossil fuels to satiate our hunger for energy would increase the percentage of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, which would change the Earth’s temperature. Regular measurements of atmospheric CO2, started in the late 1950’s at remote locations such as Mauna Loa in Hawaii and the South Pole, confirmed his hypothesis ...[Read More]

EGU, Vienna 2015: the round-up

Kathryn Adamson July 8, 2015

EGU by numbers In April, the EGU returned to Vienna for their annual Congress meeting. Over 11,837 scientists from 108 countries descended in the Vienna International Centre for the six-day conference. Delegates enjoyed over 4,870 oral presentations, 8,489 posters, and 705 PICO presentations. That’s a lot of science! Science and ice cream for everyone! As always, the EGU were excellen ...[Read More]

A Climate Modeling Workshop in the South of France!

Jesse February 11, 2015

Climate and its effects on the past, present and future of the human race is a heated, topic of debate these days. There are many competing interests at stake from governments and politicians to the big oil and energy companies of the world to the scientists trying to work on climate change problems to the people of the world most acutely affected by these changes on the Earth we live. Thus, I thi ...[Read More]