u:colloquium@physics

Climate & Sustainability

A series of talks sponsored by the Faculty of Physics and the VDSP

Lise-Meitner lecture hall, 1st floor, Faculty of Physics, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Vienna

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.

 Upcoming lecture - 23 June 2022, 17:30

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

There is no registration required.

Wearing a face mask in public areas of the University of Vienna and at events is strongly recommended.

Previous talks

7 April 2022 | Any questions? - the physical basis of global and Austrian climate change

Prof. Dr. Mathias Rotach

Head of Department Department of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences, ​University of Innsbruck

After a short introduction to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), its origin, organization, tasks and outputs, the focus of the seminar will be on the physical basis of climate change. What are the physical processes at the origin of the Earth atmosphere’s climate system that lead to what is known as ‘climate change’? A short overview on the climate system’s reaction will be given as well as a discussion of the (un)certainty with which we can assess these reactions in the climate system. To better understand the specific ‘issues’ of Austrian climate change the physical principles of ‘climate modeling’ will shortly be reviewed. The seminar will be concluded with a selection of recent results relevant for Austria’s climate adaptation and mitigation strategies and most relevant open questions.