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Image: NASAmore

Workshop on Climate Variability and Extremes in Thun (Switzerland)

About 70 scientists discussed the climate record of the past 100 years

Wetter und Klima (Symbolbild)
Image: NASA

An international workshop on climate variability and extremes took place in Gwatt near Thun (Switzerland) on 24-26 July 2006. It was attended by scientists working on data issues as well as statistical climatologists, modellers, and atmospheric chemists. Large progress has been made in the past few years towards quantifying and understanding climate variability during past centuries. Both the understanding of the past and the knowledge of the processes are important for assessing and attributing the anthropogenic effect on present and future climate. The most important time period in this context are the past 100 years, which comprise both large natural variations and extremes (such as long droughts) as well as anthropogenic influences, most pronounced in the past few decades.
The workshop provided an overview of the progress and remaining challenges in the analysis of variability in various climate variables like temperature, precipitation, pressure, radiation, albedo, wind, atmospheric and ocean circulation, sea ice, snow cover, and chemistry as well as the corresponding extremes. Moreover, the variability in different regions and atmospheric layers (surface, troposphere, stratosphere) was presented. The main target of the workshop was to exchange experiences in the different fields with respect to challenges and solutions in the analysis of data.
In order to address the interested public a podium discussion was organized on 24 July. About 150 persons listened to the presentations by Heinz Wanner, Martin Beniston and Pamela Heck which were followed by an animated discussion between the audience and the speakers.
It is planned to publish the invited contributions to the workshop in a book which will be published in the second half of 2007. The announcement will be made on this site in due time.
More information and documentation is available from the main organiser, , ETH Zürich.

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