Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences

The 2021 Nobel Prize on Physics awarded to the physics of complex systems!

Valerio Lembo October 25, 2021

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2021. Credits: https://www.nobelprize.org.

On October 7th, the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 was announced. It came as a stunning surprise for the Non-linear Processes and Climate communities, the recipients of this year’s award being two outstanding senior climate scientists, Klaus Hasselmann and Syukuro Manabe, and a theoretical physicist specialized in complex systems, Giorgio Parisi. For many, this award was welcomed as a long-awaited re ...[Read More]

Three reasons why Forest-Fires worsen with climate change

Davide Faranda September 1, 2021

The brand-new IPCC AR6 report clearly states that “Unless there are immediate, rapid and massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to around 1.5°C, or even 2°C, will be out of reach”. Although as human beings we do not perceive changes in global Earth average temperatures as a threat to our lives, the IPCC report also states that extreme weather events will worsen; actually ...[Read More]

When carbon emissions break nature: icebergs and their feedback to climate change

Davide Faranda May 21, 2021

This image distributed by the European Space Agency (ESA) on May 20, 2021 shows a view of the A-76 iceberg off the Ronne sea ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. It was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission. Credits: ESA.

The largest iceberg in the world, named A-76, about 170 km long and 25 km wide, is drifting away from the Ronne pack ice in Antarctica. A76, originally spotted by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), a British polar research organization with a base nearby, will wander and melt in the Weddell Sea, according to a statement released Wednesday, May 20, by the European Space Agency. Several studies are ...[Read More]

Four reasons for still observing cold spells despite the undeniable global climate change

Davide Faranda February 18, 2021

Stravinsky fountain, near the Centre Pompidou (Paris) frozen by the cold wave of 2021.

The winter of 2020-2021 has been characterized by various cold waves affecting – at different times – Western and Eastern Europe and North America. The most striking pictures show Madrid covered by up to 40 cm of fresh snow, frozen Thames near London and Canal St Martin in Paris, heavy snow in Amsterdam and even on the Eolian Islands, just offshore Sicily. At first this seems contradi ...[Read More]