News and Events

Moritz Burger
Bern erlebt den heissesten Sommer seit 2003. Am 4. August verzeichnet die Aare mit 24,12 Grad einen neuen Allzeitrekord. Der Bärnerbär begibt sich mit Stadtklima-Experte Moritz Burger auf eine Tour durch Bern, um die wärmsten Orte zu suchen. Hotspots im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes sind der Bubenbergplatz und die Gerechtigkeitsgasse. Kühler ist es in Oberbottigen und natürlich an der Aare.

After an eventful year 2022, the Climatology Group wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The work of the urban climate group and of Ana Vicedo was highlighted at this years "Dies Academicus" of the University of Bern, the annual commemoration of the University's foundation. At this occasion, the university produced a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6sIQoOVdBE

Nils Tinner started as a junior assistant on November the 1^st in the Climatology Group. He is looking forward getting to know the group and the staff of GIUB, working on interesting scientific projects and generally supporting the group.

Siyu Chen started her study in Climate Science as a PhD student in the Climatology Group on the 1st of November. Her research aims to make a comparison between historical extreme climate events in China and Europe. During her MA studies at the Beijing Normal University in China, she engaged in the social impacts and adaptation of historical natural disasters of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Wei Wang started in October as a Visiting PhD Student in the Climatology Group. He working with the estimation of air temperature and downward shortwave radiation at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China before he came to Bern. During his Visiting period in UniBe, he will work toward air temperature, radiation and combine them further and try to make something new.

Der Oktober 2022 war warm - sehr warm. Es war in der Schweiz der wärmste Oktober seit Messbeginn, in Bern erreicht jeder zweite Tag die 20-Grad Marke. Dazu und zum warmen Sommer 2022 generell hat Stefan Brönnimann in der SRF Tagesschau und in der Talksendung "Bärner Rundi" von Telebärn Stellung genommen.

Noémie Wellinger started working as a junior assistant in the Climatology group on the 1^st of October. This semester she will be focussing on a publication in the field of Urban Climatology in Bern and next year she will be taking more junior assistant tasks. She is currently studying for her Master's degree in Geography and part of the student’s association BENE. She is looking forward to working at GIUB and meeting new people from different backgrounds.

Hola a todos! I’m Nicolás Duque and am a Colombian PhD-Student in the climatology group. My master’s thesis was about improving hydrological estimates in poorly gauged regions, by using satellite and reanalysis data provided by the eartH2Observe project. In the PhD-project I’ll be more focused on the water balance variability and its interaction with climate variability and looking at its sources and proportions of contribution. The idea is also to look at how some socio-economic variables in tropical south America react to decadal variability. In free time, I love playing bowling, playing football and dancing Salsa, also like cooking to share thoughts. You’ll find me in Of. 501

A new, long column ozone series from Oxford helps better separating chemical and dynamical influences on the ozone layer. This shows that the recovery of the ozone layer, though not seen in mid-latitude observations, is underway but masked by changes in atmospheric dynamics. This is the conclusion of a paper by Stefan Brönnimann that has been published in "Communications Earth & Envorinment".

Bereits in Juni purzeln Rekorde, Bern hatte schon mehrere Tropennächte, die Emme kein Wasser. Im Berner Podcast "Gesprächsstoff" ist die aktuelle Hitze das Thema - und wie man sich vor Überhitzung schützen kann.

https://www.bernerzeitung.ch/die-schattenseite-der-verfruehten-hitzewelle-184125994774

Michèle Grindat started as a junior assistant in the climatology group on the 1st of March. She is responsible for the digitalization and organization of the Climatology archive.
Michèle is currently attaining her Master‘s degree in Geography at the GIUB. She is looking forward to a deep dive into all the treasures that the climatology archive has to offer.

Vor 75 Jahren erlebte die Schweiz einen Hitze- und Trockensommer, der den Menschen jahrzehntelang als «die grosse Dürre» in Erinnerung geblieben ist. Am Geographischen Institut der Universität Bern, in Zusammenarbeit mit MeteoSchweiz, ETH Zürich, Universität Zürich, Agroscope und WSL, ist zum Thema eine neue Broschüre (und ein kurzer Film) entstanden. Darin zeichnen Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln nach, wie es 1947 zu diesem Rekordsommer kam und fragen, was wir daraus für die Zukunft lernen können: Was sind Ursachen und Folgen von Hitze- und Trockensommern in der Schweiz? Unter welchen Konsequenzen litten vor 75 Jahren Natur und Mensch, und wie wirken sich Hitze und Dürre heute aus? Wie normal wird ein Rekordsommer wie 1947 im Schweizer Klima der Zukunft?

Palaeoclimate studies suggest that past flood-rich periods coincided with cool periods, while climate projections suggest that flood risk may increase in a warming world. A contradiction? A new paper by the climatology group addresses this question by partitioning atmospheric drivers of floods into circulation changes and water vapour changes. Frequent floods in Europe in the mid 19th and early 20th century, as well as the flood-poor period in the mid 20th century, were driven by changes in atmospheric circulation. Conversely, the recent increase in flood frequency was driven by an increase in water vapoour, which in turn is driven by increasing temperature.

Temperature reconstructions for the cold season based on freezing and thawing data from rivers and the observation of plants show the extent of warming over the past 300 years. Reconstruction show that northern mid-latitudes have warmed by three degrees. The new data also allow a better analysis of climate mechanisms. Particularly, the point to the important role of snow cover. These are the results of a study by the Climatology Group published today in “Nature Communications”.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29677-8

The Swiss Global Change Day is a fixed entry in the agenda of every climate researcher in Switzerland, not the least because of the poster awards given to young researchers. This year the Commission for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics of the Swiss Academy of Science awarded the poster "The Written Path to the Past" of Angela-Maria Burgdorf. Congratulations!

Durch die starke Erwärmung der Arktis verlieren Gletscher in Nordkanada und auf Spitzbergen jährlich ca. 44 Milliarden Tonnen Eis. Inter-annuelle Variabilität dieser Eisschmelze wurde bisher durch starke Westwindströmungen dominiert. Nun hat ein Team aus internationalen Forschenden mit Beitrag der Universität Bern in der Fachzeitschrift Nature Climate Change den zunehmenden Einfluss von meridionalen Luftströmungen festgestellt: Verliert Spitzbergen sehr viel Eis, verliert Nordkanada weniger, und umgekehrt. Dieses Phänomen wurde bisher nur in der Theorie aufgezeigt. Das Signal in den Gletschern könnte eine erste Bestandsaufnahme sein für solche Konsequenzen der globalen Erwärmung, Konsequenzen die auch das Wetter in Mitteleuropa betreffen könnten. Zur Studie: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01275-4

Was können wir aus den Klimaschwankungen der Kleinen Eiszeit über die Klimaerwärmung lernen? Welche Auswirkungen hatten die Klimaschwankungen auf die Gesellschaft? Und wie erforschen wir überhaupt das Klima der Kleinen Eiszeit? Die Doku "Als es zwei Grad kälter wurde" des Bayrischen Rundfunks macht sich auf eine Spurensuche - unter anderem im Oeschger Zentrum und der Gruppe für Klimatologie: https://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/programmkalender/sendung-3318038.html

Madina Vogt started as a junior assistant in the Climatology group on 1 January. At the same time, Madina is working on her Bachelor's degree in Geography and is involved in the student council. She is looking forward to getting to know the staff of GIUB and taking on new challenges.