News

Stefan Brönnimann from the PALAEO-RA project of the Institute of Geography (palaeo-ra.unibe.ch) has released an e-learning tool for weather reconstructions. On www.weather-reconstruction.org, students and anyone interested can learn step-by-step how historical manuscript data can eventually lead to complex climate information such as hazard maps. The tool focuses on sources of uncertainty and the application of reanalysis data and other data products in a meaningful way. Data can be downloaded for analyses in statistical software and visualization tools. The sections Climate Data, Global Reanalyses and Downscaling and Applications each starts with a very short text and the video followed by 2–4 subsections, typically with an exercise.

In addition, introduction videos give a concise overview of each section:

Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, Professor of Geography and Sustainable Development, current director of the Institute of Geography and Board member of the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) has obtained an ERC Consolidator Grant for a project on «Tropical forest patches under pressure: Dynamics, functions and sustainable management in agricultural landscapes of the West African forest and savannah zones (SUSTAINFORESTS)». The five-year project will analyse the roles of forest patches in the highly fragmented agricultural landscapes of the rainforest and savannah zones of the West African countries, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon. SUSTAINFORESTS examines why forest patches persist, how they maintain ecosystem services and livelihood functions, and under what conditions they can have a sustainable future.

Heliodoro Ochoa Garcia was awarded second place for his dissertation "Struggling for Sustainable Water Governance: Social conflicts and alternatives from the bottom up in Mexico", supervised by Prof. Dr. Stephan Rist.

The Civil Society Research Prize, awarded by the Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía A.C. and the Universidad de las Americas Puebla, among others, aims to recognise those researchers who have carried out innovative academic work with methodological rigour and who contribute creatively to the analysis of issues related to civil society in Mexico. (see Link)

A research team led by Alexander Groos, Heinz Veit and Naki Akçar, in collaboration with colleagues from ETH Zurich, the University of Marburg and the University of Ankara, used the Ethiopian Highlands as a test site to investigate the extent and impact of regional cooling on tropical mountains during the last glacial period. The results have been published in the scientific journals Science Advances and Earth Surface Dynamics and are presented in a media release from the University of Bern.
 

The results and products of the study "Hydrological principles of climate change (Hydro-CH2018)" were presented to the public at the Eventforum Bern. GIUB researchers were also involved in the study of the 'National Centre for Climate Services' (NCCS) under the direction of the FOEN, including Prof. em. Dr. Rolf Weingartner, Prof. Dr. Olivia Romppainen-Martius and Dr. Regula Mülchi, who modeled the changes in mean discharges of Swiss watercourses under the influence of climate change until the end of the century as part of her dissertation.

The results of the study were prepared for the interactive data and analysis platform of the Hydrological Atlas of Switzerland (HADES) and are freely available at hydromapscc.ch. The HADES was developed at GIUB and has been produced here since 1989.
 

Dr. Marcin R. Rataj
Berner Humangeographisches Kolloquium
«Human geographic research at GIUB»
(12:15 – 13:45, Event takes place only by Zoom/Link, GIUB)

Organized by the Units:
Social and Cultural Geography / Economic Geography /
Critical Sustainibility Studies /
Political Urbanism and Sustainable Spatial Development

Dr. Marlene Kretschmer (University of Reading)
Colloquium in Climatology, Climate Impact and Remote Sensing
(14:15 – 15:15, Zoom Room: Link)
To participate via Zoom, a password is required. The password can be requested via e-mail.

Dr. Niloofar Karimian (Southern Cross GeoScience, Southern Cross University SCU, Lismore, Australia)

Antimony biovolatilization in soils

Jaime Caplette (Soil Science Unit, GIUB)
Soil Science Colloquium
(16:15 – 18:00, Zoom Room: Link)