"One of the biggest issues facing humanity"
We are in a period of very rapid climate change. The situation is critical and emissions must be reduced drastically. The climate issue influences a large part of the research at SMHI. The Rossby Centre is SMHI's research unit for climate and climate modeling.
"At the Rossby Centre, we study and provide information about the climate system and the underlying processes, as well as climate variability and its future development globally and regionally. Our main tools are the global and regional climate models that we also develop," says Erik Kjellström, Professor of Climatology at SMHI.
Erik Kjellström, Professor of Climatology at SMHI.
More extreme weather to come
Research can clearly link changes in many types of extreme weather to climate change. Already today, the likelihood of heatwaves, heavy rainfall and droughts has increased. The intensity of many extreme weather events has also increased as a result of climate change. In a future warmer climate, these types of changes will be even more pronounced.
“Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing humanity today. It is important that we help with the transition. We don't know everything yet, but we need to continue our research and develop new and more detailed information on possible future climates - and communicate this.”
The Rossby Centre employs around 30 people from all over the world. They are meteorologists, oceanographers, biologists, a physical geographer, engineers and scientific programmers. The work includes a chain of activities with model development, climate simulations and evaluation of data for climate studies and climate services at SMHI - in Sweden, Europe and in a broader global perspective, climate information, as well as the application of model data for impact and adaptation studies.
International cooperation
International cooperation is important and is needed, for example, to further develop even higher resolution climate models that improve the models' ability to represent important processes in the climate system, such as heavy thunderstorms and intense rainfall.
One collaboration is CORDEX (Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment), which aims, among other things, to produce useful climate information for all regions of the world. The CORDEX collaboration thus contributes greatly, not least for countries with limited resources.
“There are many reasons why research on climate change is important. Climate change has major impacts, mostly negative. Both societies and the natural environment are very strongly affected," says Erik Kjellström.
