Lectures & Lecturers
Prof. Colin Price
9:30am - 10:45am - The Impact of Climate Change on Natural Disasters Around the World- Prof. Colin Price
Prof. Colin Price
Natural disasters related to the weather have increased by 400% in the last 40 years. In addition to changes in the climate and extreme weather, there have also been changes in population exposure, and the vulnerability of countries to natural hazards. We will discuss the impacts of climate change on heat waves, droughts and wildfires, while also considering storms, floods and tropical storms. These changes are impacting the low-income countries the most. And as a result we are seeing a rise in climate refugees.
Prof. Colin Price
Prof. Colin Price
Klaus
11:00am - 12:15am - Managing the risks of climate tipping points - Prof. Klaus Keller
Klaus
The coupled natural-human systems can react abruptly to anthropogenic forcings (sometimes referred to as tipping-point responses). The nonlinearity, abruptness, and hysteresis of the response poses nontrivial challenges to analyze and manage the coupled natural-human systems. This session reviews frameworks (i) to analyze past and project potential future tipping point responses and (ii) to support decisions to navigate synergies and trade-offs driven by tipping point responses.
Papers relevant to the talk:
Prof. Keller Abrupt Climate Change.pdf
Prof. Keller Adaptive.Mitigation Strategies. hedge against extreme climate features.pdf
Prof. Keller Climate Risk Management.pdf
Jonathan Winter
13:30pm - 14:45pm - Climate change and global agricultural production: Impacts and adaptation strategies - Prof. Jonathan Winter
Jonathan Winter
Global food demand is expected increase 70% by 2050 due to population growth and increased meat consumption; rising competition for land, water, and energy will necessitate improved agricultural practices to minimize environmental effects; and climate change threatens to disrupt crop production globally and disproportionately reduce food security in regions that already have high undernourishment. This session will focus on (1) climate change impacts on global agricultural production of staple crops, (2) adaptation strategies at local to global scales, and (3) the potential to increase agricultural production through irrigation.
Pries
15:00pm - 16:15pm - Soils: Climate Friend or Foe? - Prof. Caitlin Hicks Pries
Pries
Soil organic matter stores over three times as much carbon as the atmosphere. As our climate warms, microbial decomposition of this organic matter can speed up, which may reduce the amount of carbon stored in soils and increase the amount of CO2 respired by microbes into the atmosphere where it acts as a greenhouse gas. This process could be a reinforcing feedback to climate change. Despite concerns about increased decomposition, soil is simultaneously receiving much attention as a potential climate change mitigation strategy. Some scientists have posited that by managing soil differently, we could remove CO2 from the atmosphere at a rate equivalent to annual fossil fuel emissions. In this session, we will discuss 1) how soil carbon is responding to climate change; 2) how soil carbon responds to management on agricultural land; and 3) models that aim to project the response of soil carbon to future global change.
Prof. Nili Harnik
16:30pm - 17:45pm - The Journey of Water Molecules in the Atmosphere and How it is Changing Under Global Warming - Prof. Nili Harnik
Prof. Nili Harnik
An increase in the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere is one of the robust implications of global warming. A corresponding increase in the global amount of rain is expected, though it can't be as strong as the increase in water vapor due to energetic constraints. Local changes in the hydrological cycle are much less constrained and thus much harder to predict. We will discuss the global hydrological cycle, understand the contributions of different global circulation components, and the current understanding of changes in these components due to global warming.