About the lecture series
The climate crisis is one of the fundamental challenges of our times, and it
will further intensify over the next decades. Accordingly, achieving “climate
neutrality by 2030” is part of the sustainability strategy of the University of
Vienna. In an effort to support this goal, the Faculty of Physics is organising
a series of colloquia (sponsored by the VDSP) on crucial scientific insights
regarding climate change.
About this lecture
Clouds and climate
I will discuss why clouds are crucial to climate and climate change and
why they remain one of the greatest challenge of climate science. I will first
focus on the role of clouds for global climate change and the magnitude of
global-mean warming. I will then discuss why the magnitude of global-mean
warming is a crucial but insufficient metric for many changes at the regional
scales, and highlight how clouds set regional , climate change by shaping the
atmospheric circulation. Finally, I will discuss ongoing work that attempts to
numerically represent the climate system at cloud-resolving scales, and how
this promises to lead to both fundamental progress in solving the cloud puzzle
and actionable climate science.
About the speaker
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Aiko Voigt holds the chair for climate science at the Institute for
Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Vienna. He and his research team
“Climate Dynamics and Modelling” specialise on how clouds shape climate
via their coupling to the circulation of the atmosphere.
Download PDF HERE
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