The Willi Dansgaard centenary symposium on abrupt climate change
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Sune Olander Rasmussen
Institution
University of Copenhagen
Beløb
DKK 500,000
År
2022
Bevillingstype
Strategic Grants
Hvad?
As the founder of isotope glaciology and ice-core-based climate research, Willi Dansgaard was a world-renowned scientist and probably one of Denmark's most important physicists in an international context. His research contributions are more relevant today than ever because of the climate agenda. On the occasion of Willi Dansgaard's upcoming 100th birthday on 30 August 2022, we will organize a symposium honouring and celebrating Willi Dansgaard's achievements and culminating in a gala dinner at Carlsberg Academy. The symposium is surrounded by a three-day scientific conference focused on Willi Dansgaard's work: isotope measurements, ice-flow modeling and dating, and the study of abrupt climate change.
Hvorfor?
Willi Dansgaard - together with Hans Oeschger from Bern – lends his name to the abrupt climate changes of the ice age, the Dansgaard-Oeschger events, which were first found in ice core data, and which are still today best documented in and explored using Greenlandic ice-core data. Despite the fact that the existence of the D-O events has been widely recognized for almost half a century, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the underlying processes and how the changes propagated in time and space. Even more crucial is the lack of an understanding of the climatic conditions under which abrupt climate change occurred in the past, as this is part of the answer to whether similar events could occur in the future. The conference will address these key issues.
Hvordan?
The detailed planning of the conference and symposium is ongoing and more information will follow.