New UG Chair to focus on consequences of climate change and an ice-free Arctic

In this lecture, Bintanja – Senior Researcher Climate Change at the KNMI since 1995 – will propose that the UG Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen (ESRIG) and the KNMI join forces to address these questions. ESRIG is specialized in recording observational knowledge about Arctic ecosystems and processes that determine the concentration of CO2, i.e. the carbon cycle, while the KNMI boasts the well established climate model EC-Earth, which is currently being expanded into an Earth System Model

More accurate scenarios

Richard Bintanja is an expert in Arctic Studies and has undertaken several trips to the North Pole area. It is well known that the area will undergo enormous change with all sorts of major consequences in the coming decades. Bintanja: ‘I was on Spitsbergen two years ago, where I physically experienced how rapidly Arctic glaciers are retreating at the moment. According to a relatively recent naval chart of the area, we were supposed to be sailing through an ice field, but there was no ice field to be seen anywhere. This is a precursor to the great changes. At the University of Groningen, I intend to unite the Arctic climate, ecology and carbon cycle into one overarching model. This will provide us with a better understanding of what lies ahead in terms of direct and indirect effects, not only for the Arctic climate and ecosystems, but also, for example, for the climate in our own region.’

About the Chair

The Chair in Climate and Environmental Change intends to cleverly link the observational knowledge of the carbon cycle and ecosystems obtained within ESRIG to the KNMI's work in climate modeling. By focusing model validation on the interactions between climate on the one hand and the carbon cycle and ecosystems on the other, this global Earth System Model will be able to obtain more accurate estimations regarding the future of the Arctic. These estimations will indicate when and how the sea ice will disappear and what the consequences will be for marine Arctic ecosystems, for example. They allow for the development of a more accurate scenario of the major changes that await the Arctic and the areas beyond in the near future.