2015 - bjerknes centre for climate research · reduce climate change, and a concrete implementation...

2015

The R/V Lance drifting through the polar night, being the home for shifting teams of young scien-tists from 11 countries. The Norwegian Young Sea ICE cruise (N-ICE2015) hosted by the Norwegian Polar Institute, was a field campaign on the sea ice lasting from January – August 2016. The ship acted as a field laboratory for polar research amidst inhospitable north polar conditions, drifting in the ice between 80-83 ° north. As seen in the picture, the ice floe suddenly shattered like glass shards, separating instruments by deep chasms of open ocean water.PHOTO: ALGOT PETERSON, Ph.D candidate at the UiB and Bjerknes

3Statement from the board | A year of consolidation

Umbrella City People in the city of Bergen gathered to see the parade on the Norwegian Constitution Day on May 17th.

PHOTO: JERRY TJIPUTRA

researcher at Uni Research and the Bjerknes Centre

TORE FUREVIK, DIRECTOR OF THE BJERKNES CENTRE FOR CLIMATE RESEARCH

A year of consolidation

The board is pleased that the Bjerknes Centre continues to live up to our expectations in terms of scientific quality, competitiveness and engagement. Scientists affiliated with the Centre have secured substantial infrastructure funding for carbon observations and isotope analysis, opening up new avenues of research. Several new data sets have been compiled and made public, and will be resources for the international community in many years to come.

Education and outreach are key activities in the Centre’s mandate. The success of the first climate MOOC in Norway is noteworthy, and these platforms should be further explored. The board is also excited to learn that a number of research training activities established by the national research school ResClim will continue under CHESS. The school has enhanced the quality of research training in climate dynamics and consolidated a network of young climate scientists in Norway.

Norway is moving towards a greener, climate-resilient and low emission society, and the Bjerknes Centre, being at the international forefront in basic research on the climate system, should play an active role as a provider of high-quality climate information to stakeholders. In this regard, the board expects the Centre to collaborate more with disciplines outside natural sciences, and to contribute to climate adaptation and mitigation studies. For instance, climate services is coming higher on the research agenda both nationally and internationally. The upcoming international conference on climate-change adaptation in Bergen next August co-organised by the Bjerknes Centre will provide an excellent venue for such deliberations, and the board looks forward to it.

The Bjerknes Centre keeps growing and it now exceeds 200 employees from about 40 nations. We also grow competitively with regard to bids for research projects. Notably, this year includes a consolidator grant from the European Research Council and also a large infrastructure project ICOS of close to 100 million NOK. In terms of funding grants from the Research Council of Norway and the European Commission, the partners of the Bjerknes Centre are listed within the top two and top three national institutions, respectively.

The Centre’s scientific production, in terms of articles in the peer- review literature, was about the same level as last year. Bjerknes scientists continue to be pivotal contributors to new data sets resulting from many years of sustained and systematic work such as DATED, SOCAT-3 and GLODAP-2. Such data sets are invaluable for the world research community.

Bjerknes continues to attract the international scientific community to Bergen. This year, it hosted two major workshops: 50 participants gathered to discuss high-latitude dynamics, while the 45th Arctic international workshop attracted more than 100 participants. I can say with confidence that the Centre’s status as a major international climate research centre – in terms of size, projects, publications and international engagements – is strong.

Climate education and outreachThe very first Norwegian Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) in climate was launched this year. Bjerknes scientists were in charge of the entire set of lectures, while questions from participants were answered by Bjerknes-affiliated PhD candidates. The MOOC had 8000 “students”, and they posed a total of 5600 written questions. This exercise exceeded all expectations and it proved to be a great success. The course will be repeated in 2016.

Much of the research training at the Centre has been organised under the national Research School in Climate Dynamics (RESCLIM) that will end in 2016. Funding for a new school has now been secured, and the new name to remember is the Norwegian Research School on Changing Climate in the coupled Earth System (CHESS). This school will gradually take over many of the courses, training workshops and summer schools that have been established at the Centre.

The Centre continues to receive visits from a variety of organisations seeking knowledge-based information on climate and climate related issues. In 2015 we hosted politicians and bureaucrats from a number of European

countries; a delegation of administrators from 12 US universities, leaders of several Russian fishery organisations, the general secretary for the World Council of Religious Leaders, the new aspirants at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as many local high-school classes with their teachers.

An important year for climateAs had been forecast for a while, 2015 became the warmest year ever measured on the planet. The globally averaged surface temperature shattered the previous record set in 2014 by 0.15°C, and is for the first time 1°C higher than the late 19th century temperature. In Norway it was the second warmest and third wettest year in history.

But there were also good news. The Global Carbon Project, with contributions from the Bjerknes Centre, estimated a decrease in the global greenhouse gas emissions from 2014 to 2015, partly due to an explosive increase in renewable energy. And the Paris agreement was adopted. For the first time in history the world has an agreement to reduce climate change, and a concrete implementation plan on how to limit global warming.

Norway follows the rest of Europe and has agreed to reduce emissions by 40% by 2030. With only 14 years to accomplish this reduction, the urgency is high for moving towards a green, resilient, low emission society. We will contribute to this shift by continuing solution-oriented research and dissemination of knowledge to society. Examples are the reports Sea-level change for Norway and Climate in Norway 2100, and the upcoming Nordic conference on climate change adaptation From research to action, where we expect 300 participants to Bergen in August.

Co-location finally in sightFunding for renovation and refurbishment of the West Wing of the Geophysical institute were secured early in 2015. Work has already started at full speed. The Bjerknes staff from UiB and Uni Research will be the first to move into brand new office space already in 2017, the same year the Geophysical Institute is 100 years old and the Bjerknes Centre will celebrate its 15th anniversary. I look forward to the celebrations.

Statement from the board

Annual report Bjerknes Centre 20154 5Table of Contents

3 Director’s comments 6 Scientific highlights 10 Research projects 13 Finances

14 Strategic Projects18 Research training 20 Outreach 22 Engagements 26 Organisation28 Staff36 Selected publications 39 Doctoral dissertations

EditorGudrun Sylte

CopyeditingCathy Jenks and Martin Miles

LayoutHaltenbanken

PrintBodoni As, bodoni.no

Frontpage photoAlgot Peterson, Ph.D candidate at the Geophysical Institute, UiB and the Bjerknes Centre

Table of Contents

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The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research is a collaboration between four partner institutions: • Uni Research • University of Bergen• Institute of Marine Research and • Nansen Environmental Remote Sensing Centre The Centre engages more than 195 scientists from 37 countries, and is one of the largest climate research units in Europe.

The research is organised into seven research groups, each with specific goals, objectives and implementation plans:

Objectives and Research

The aim of the Bjerknes Centre is to understand and quantify the climate system for the benefit of society.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

The Bjerknes Centre combines observations with theoretical and modelling studies of past, present and future climates.

The Centre will

• Identify processes controlling natural and human-induced climate change.

• Understand large-scale teleconnections and couplings in the atmosphere and ocean.

• Understand and quantify past climate variations at regional and global scales.

• Determine changes in the earth’s cryosphere (sea-ice, permafrost, glaciers, ice sheets).

• Understand and quantify global and regional sea-level changes.

• Quantify global biogeochemical cycles and their couplings to the climate system.

• Provide scenarios for future climate at global and regional scales.

• Develop methods for providing seasonal to decadal climate predictions.

• Contribute actively to the climate change mitigation and adaptation processes.

• Play an important role in the training of future generations of climate scientists.

• Communicate research results to stakeholders and society at large.

RG1

RG2

RG3

RG4

RG5

RG6

RG7

Climate model development and projections

Climate predictions from global to regional scales

Carbon cycle and biogeochemistry

Large-scale atmosphere-ocean dynamics

Atmosphere, cryosphere and ocean processes

Natural climate variability

Past climate dynamics

Annual report Bjerknes Centre 20156 7Scientific Highlights

New data sets valuable for the world research community

After many years of sustained and systematic work by Bjerknes researchers, three new data sets became available in 2015 (although one of them, the GLODAP database, was slightly postponed for release in January 2016).

The geologists behind DATabase of Eurasian Deglaciation (DATED) released the first version of results in October 2015. This first version of the database (DATED-1) contains more than 5000 dates spanning an area from the continental shelf west of Ireland and onto the Russian Plain in the east. The geologists at the Department at the Department of Earth Science have compiled and evaluated published dates and geological observations relevant to reconstruct the growth and retreat of ice during the last ice age. The data compilation has been used to construct a series of maps showing how ice sheets up to 3000 m thick grew and retreated across northern Europe, Russia and the Barents Sea 40,000–10,000 years ago. The new reconstruction is important for anyone wanting to understand the interaction between glaciers and climate through the last ice age, and forms a new basis for future work, including numerical modelling of ice sheets and climate.

The Surface Ocean Atlas – SOCAT Version 3The SOCAT database is a collection of surface ocean CO2 observations, which are quality controlled by the science community. The third version was released in October 2015 and includes 14.5 million surface ocean CO2 measurements obtained throughout the global oceans and coastal seas between 1957 and 2014. SOCAT is an open access database, available online at www.socat.info. All data are thoroughly evaluated before they are incorporated in the database. Are Olsen, associate professor at UiB and the Bjerknes Centre is one of the founders of

A time-slice of the ice evolution 25.000 years ago, from a series of maps showing how the ice sheet grew and retreated during the last ice age. ILLUSTRATION: ANNA HUGHES

SOCAT. He emphasizes that the research community need to become more open to sharing knowledge and data. One of the most important components in the success of the SOCAT database is trust: a corner-stone of SOCAT policy is the requirement of inviting data originators to participate when their data are used. This helps to establish new collaborations and better science. As the SOCAT continues to grow, new versions of the database will be launched once a year, starting June 2016.

GLODAPv2 contains data from 724 research cruises conducted between 1972 and 2013 in all regions of the world oceans, with data from the WOCE global and CLIVAR repeat hydrographic surveys as key components. It is a major update of the original GLODAP dating back to 2004. At the Bjerknes Centre, Are Olsen, Siv Lauvset and Emil Jeansson have contributed to GLODAPv2, where Olsen has been coordinating the GLODAPv2 effort. Olsen expects the data included in the database to be a unique resource for researchers worldwide, allowing the com-munity to estimate ocean uptake of CO2, changes in oxygen content and ocean acidification. Additionally they can be used to evaluate the performance of global climate models for the next IPCC report. The new version of GLODAP consists of three elements, a database with original cruise data, a merged and bias corrected data product and a mapped climatology, showing global distributions of CO2 chemistry and other parameters in seawater. GLODAPv2 is openly available at http://cdiac.ornl.gov/oceans/GLODAPv2/ and by January 2016, the database already had 400 different visitors worldwide.

Third ERC award in 14 months

ARCPATH – A new Nordic Centre of Excellence

Professor Noel Keenlyside was awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) in January 2015. He received the grant for the project ”Synchronisation to enhance reliability of climate prediction” (STERCP). The project is collaboration with Keenlyside’s colleagues Mao-Lin Shen and Gregory Duane at the Geophysical Institute and the Bjerknes Centre. Climate prediction is an emerging frontier in climate research, an area with many ongoing activities at the Bjerknes Centre, where Keenlyside is involved in most of them.

Keenlyside became the third researcher at UiB and the Bjerknes Centre to recently receive a prestigious ERC grant. In November 2014 his colleague at the Bjerknes Centre, Nele Meckler at the UiB Department of Earth Science was awarded an ERC Starting Grant for young promising researchers, for her work on reconstructing past climate conditions. In December 2013 professors Eystein Jansen and Kerim Nisancioglu were awarded an ERC Synergy Grant for the ice2ice project, in collabo-ration with colleagues in Copenhagen. In this project they are looking at the relationship between melting Arctic sea ice and the Greenland Ice Sheet.

A few days before Christmas, Gao and his team of researchers received the very welcome message that their application ARCPATH will be funded as a Nordic Centre of Excellence in Arctic Research, with 28 MNOK from NordForsk lasting for five years. The basic idea is to assess climate impacts by improved climate prediction for the Arctic. ARCPATH will look at coastal communities on eastern Greenland and northern Iceland and how changes in climate might have consequences for these coastal communities regarding fisheries, tourism, increased shipping and industrial activities and the distribution of marine mammals. The team and the project is highly interdisiplinary, and even though climate prediction is a complicated task, Yongqi Gao finds the interdisciplinarity to be one of the most challenging tasks. The ARCPATH Centre of Excellence is yet another piece in the evolving climate prediction field at the Bjerknes Centre. The climate prediction they are aiming for is for the near future – the decade 2020–2030 – so ARCPATH will be ending right at the start of their prediction. The research team is comprised of project partners from Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, as well as the USA, Canada and China.

Noel Keenlyside, professor at UiB PHOTO: GUDRUN SYLTE

Yongqi Gao, research director at Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre PHOTO: GUDRUN SYLTE

SOCAT and GLODAP, watching the world oceans for you. CARTOON: JO KING, BJERKNES CENTRE

References

Hughes, A.L.C., Gyllencreutz, R., Lohne, Ø.S., Mangerud, J., Svendsen, J.I., 2015. The last Eurasian Ice Sheets

– a chronological database and time-slice reconstruction, DATED-1. Boreas. doi:10.1111/bor.12142.

Olsen, A., R. M. Key, S. van Heuven, S. K. Lauvset, A. Velo, X. Lin, C. Schirnick, A. Kozyr, T. Tanhua, M. Hoppema,

S. Jutterström, R. Steinfeldt, E. Jeansson, M. Ishii, F. F. Pérez, T. Suzuki.. An internally consistent data product

for the world ocean: the Global Ocean Data Analysis Project, version 2, Earth System Science Data

Discussions, doi:10.5194/essd-2015-42, in review, 2016.

Lauvset, S. K., R. M. Key, A. Olsen, S. van Heuven, A. Velo, X. Lin, C. Schirnick, A. Kozyr, T. Tanhua, M. Hoppema,

S. Jutterström, R. Steinfeldt, E. Jeansson, M. Ishii, F. F. Pérez, T. Suzuki, S. Watelet. A new global interior ocean

mapped climatology, the 1°x1° GLODAP version 2, Earth System Science Data Discussions, doi:10.5194/essd-

2015-43, in review, 2016.

Key, R.M., A. Olsen, S. van Heuven, S. K. Lauvset, A. Velo, X. Lin, C. Schirnick, A. Kozyr, T. Tanhua, M. Hoppema,

S. Jutterström, R. Steinfeldt, E. Jeansson, M. Ishii, F. F. Perez, T. Suzuki, 2015. Global Ocean Data Analysis

Project, Version 2 (GLODAPv2). ORNL/CDIAC-162, NDP-093. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center,

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. doi: 10.3334/CDIAC/OTG.

NDP093_GLODAPv2.

Klima i Norge 2100NCCS report no. 2/2015

Redaktører

Kunnskapsgrunnlag for klimatilpasning oppdatert i 2015

I. Hanssen-Bauer, E.J. Førland, I. Haddeland, H. Hisdal, S. Mayer, A. Nesje, J.E.Ø. Nilsen, S. Sandven, A.B. Sandø, A. Sorteberg og B. Ådlandsvik

Foto: Anne Olsen-Ryum, www.hasvikfoto.no

M-406 | 2015 The report Klima i Norge 2100 (Climate in Norway 2100) was released in September 2015, and constitutes a knowledge base for climate change adaptation in Norway. The report highlights the consequences for Norway in a changing climate, which include higher temperatures, heavier precipitation and shorter snow season. The report was released together with the report Sea Level Change for Norway. A total of 15 Bjerknes scientist from all four partners contributed to the two reports. Among the editors were: Stephanie Mayer (Uni Research), Atle Nesje (UiB) , Jan Even Øie Nilsen (NERSC), Anne Britt Sandø (IMR), Asgeir Sorteberg (UiB) and Bjørn Ådlandsvik (IMR).

Annual report Bjerknes Centre 20158 9Scientific Highlights

PhD candidate Ingrid Onarheim and Professor Lars Henrik Smedsrud spent several weeks during May on the sea ice participating in the Norwegian Young Sea ICE cruise (N-ICE2015) hosted by the Norwegian Polar Institute. Smedsrud was leading one of the work packages in the field campaign, with the primary objective of understanding the effects of the new thin first-year sea-ice regime in the Arctic. The research vessel Lance drifted with the sea ice north of Svalbard, between 80-83° north, from January – August 2015. PHOTO: LARS HENRIK SMEDSRUD

Dripstones tells of storm track changesHarald Sodemann, associate professor at UiB and the Bjerknes Centre, has developed a model-based method for detecting the evaporation sources and atmospheric transport paths of water vapour on its way to precipitation. Together with colleagues in Europe, they published a new study in Nature Communications on how storm tracks were located further to the south of Europe 25,000 years ago. By analyzing the geochemical composition of dripstones (mineral deposits such as stalactites or stalagmites) recovered from an Alpine cave in Switzerland, Marc Luetscher et al. were able to extract information on how much

Link between solar variations and Atlantic weather phenomenon

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is a climatic phenomenon controlling the strength and direction of the storm tracks across the North Atlantic Ocean. This large-scale pressure system affects Norwegian and European weather in the sense that a positive NAO index will give more rain and mild winters in Norway and the rest of northern Europe, while a negative NAO index gives cold and dry winters. A study published in Nature Communications, led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre of Ocean Research in Kiel, shows how the 11-year solar cycle serves as a phase-lock for the NAO. Nour-Eddine Omrani, post doc at the UiB and

A new perspective of the Atlantic Niño focuses prediction effortsThe El Niño weather phenomenon in the Pacific is famous for producing months-long strange weather, but it also has a lesserknown relative on the other side of the world. The Atlantic Niño, with a pattern very similar to the El Niño in the Pacific, dominates a wide swath of the Atlantic. Unlike its Pacific cousin, the Atlantic Niño has proven nearly impossible to predict. A study published in Nature Communications brings a completely new perspective on predictions for the Atlantic Niño. A research team led by Hyacinth Nnamchi at the University of Nigeria were investigating two sets of model experiments, and found a drastically different mechanism compared to the El Niño in the Pacific. The work is a result of a collaboration with Noel Keenlyside at the University of

of the total precipitation was transported from the ocean across the Alpine main crest to the cave site during the last ice age, a period when large parts of the Alps were completely ice-covered.

ReferenceLuetscher, M., R. Boch, H. Sodemann, C. Spötl, H. Cheng, R.L. Edwards, S. Frisia, F. Hof, W. Müller, 2015. North Atlantic storm track changes during the Last Glacial Maximum recorded by Alpine speleothems, Nature Communications, 6:6344 | DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7344.

the Bjerknes Centre, was part of the study where the scientists conducted model experiments covering a period of 145 years. In the simulations they found a consistent time lag between variations of solar activity and large-scale NAO patterns, which is supported by observational data.

ReferenceThiéblemont, R., K. Matthes, N.-E. Omrani, K. Kodera, F. Hansen, 2015. Solar forcing synchronizes decadal climate variability North Atlantic. Nature Communications, doi: 10.1038/ncomms9268.

Nordic Seas cooled 500,000 years before the global oceans

In the Pliocene, 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago, the world was generally warmer than today. It has previously been known that the global oceans cooled towards the modern situation from 4 million years ago, but a study published in Nature Communications shows that the Nordic Seas cooled 500,000 years earlier. Stijn De Schepper, researcher at Uni Research and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, has together with colleagues in Bergen, Germany and Korea investigated the fossil remains of microscopic marine plankton, mainly dinoflagellate cysts, in two sediment cores from the Norwegian Sea and Iceland Sea.

The dinoflagellate cyst assemblages underwent fundamental changes around 4.5 million years ago. Together with the simultaneous first appearance of cool-water Pacific mollusks in Iceland, the results demonstrate that the Nordic Seas cooled significantly. The study suggests this as a start of the development of the modern Nordic Seas circulation.

ReferenceDe Schepper, S., Schreck, M., Beck, K.M., Matthiessen, J., Fahl, K., Mangerud. G., 2015. Early Pliocene onset of modern Nordic Seas circulation related to ocean gateway changes. Nature Communications 6:8659, 10.1038/ncomms9659.

Bergen and the Bjerknes Centre, and in the EU-PREFACE project coordinated by Keenlyside. Heat exchanges between the atmosphere and the ocean seems to drive the Atlantic Niño, instead of heat moving around the ocean itself. This new insight will refocus prediction efforts, raising hope for better predictions for the surrounding regions, especially countries in the northern part of South America and African countries on the Gulf of Guinea.

ReferenceNnamchi, H. C., J. Li, F. Kucharsk, I.-S. Kang, N. S. Keenlyside, P. Chang, R. Farneti, 2015. Thermo-dynamic controls of the Atlantic Niño. Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9895.

Annual report Bjerknes Centre 201510 11Research projects

Research projects

PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE RESEARCH COUNCIL OF NORWAY

ACRONYM TITLE PERIOD PROGRAM Leader*/Partner**

NORPAN Partnership between Norway and Japan for excellent Education and Research

2016-18 INTPART T. Spengler*

PERMAFROST Advancing permafrost carbon climate feedback-improvements and evaluations of the Norwegian EArth System Model with observations

2016-18 FRINATEK H. Lee*

ISOBAR Innovative Strategies for Observation in the Arctic Atmospheric Boundary

2016-2019 FRINATEK J.Reuder*

ProVoLo Watermass transformation processes and vortex dynamics in the Lofoten Basin

2016-19 FRINATEK I. Fer*

THRESHOLDS Thresholds for destabilizing thermohaline circulation and ocean carbon cycling in a warmer world

2016-19 KLIMAFORSK U. Ninnemann*

DYNAMITE Dynamics of arctic-midlatitude teleconnections: mechanisms, robustness and tropical modulation

2016-19 KLIMAFORSK C. Li*

EVOGLAC Investigating the future evolution of Norwegian glaciers and hydrological impacts: an integrated approach

2016-19 KLIMAFORSK A. Nesje*

R3 Relevant, reliable and robust local-scale climate projection for Norway

2016-19 KLIMAFORSK S. Sobolowski*

CHASE Climate History along the Arctic Seaboard of Eurasia 2016-19 KLIMAFORSK J.I. Svendsen*

ICOS-Norway Integrated Carbon Observation System and Ocean Thematic Centre

2016-20 FORINFRA T. Johannessen*

PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION HORIZON2020

ACRONYM TITLE PERIOD PROGRAM Leader*/Partner**

iEcoH Integrating ecosystem heterogeneity to enhance ESM performance

2016-17 MC-ID H. Lee*

AQUATIK Improving the preservation and sustainable exploitation of Atlantic marine ecosystems

2016-19 RIA-BG1 A. Olsen**

STEM-CCS Strategies for Environmental Monitoring of Marine Carbon Capture and Storage

2016-19 H2020 A. Omar**

STERCP Synchronisation to enhance reliability of climate prediction 2015-20 ERC Consoli-dator Grant

N. Keenlyside*

PROJECTS FUNDED BY OTHER SOURCES

ACRONYM TITLE PERIOD SOURCE INSTRUMENT Leader*/Partner**

OVENS Overturning in the Nordic Seas 2016-20 Bergen Research Foundation

Recruitment program

K. Våge*

ARCPATH Arctic Climate Predictions: Pathways to Resilient, Sustainable Societies

2016-20 NORDFORSK Nordic Centres of Excellence

Y. Gao*

New projects granted in 2015

Most of Bjerknes science is carried out through externally funded re-search projects. In 2015 Bjerknes scientists were involved in 75 externally funded research projects, of which 52 are coordinated by the partner institutions.

In 2015 Bjerknes scientists were awarded a total of 16 research grants which will start up in 2016. The majority are from EU’s Horizon 2020 and several programs at the Research Council of Norway. In addition, Noel Keenlyside received a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council, Yongqi Gao, researcher at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre, was awarded a Nordic Centre of Excellence funded by NORDFORSK, and Kjetil Våge, researcher at the Geophysical Institute, UiB, was awarded a Outstanding Young Scientist Award by the Bergen Research Foundation.

19 GFI

12 GEO

BIO

UIB TOTAL 32

other private*

other public**

3

5 NERSC

1 1

46RESEARCH COUNCIL OF NORWAY

8

IMR

18 EU

14 UNI

52

75

TOTAL

TOTAL

COORDINATED BY

BJERKNES PARTNERS

FUNDING SOURCES AND

PROGRAMS/INSTRUMENTS

*Bergen Research FoundationSparebankstiftelsen DNBStatoil

**Hordaland County Council & Regional Research FundMinistry of Foreign affairsNORADNORDFORSKSIU-NNASvalbard Science ForumEuropean Economic Area Grants

12 13Annual report Bjerknes Centre 2015

67 000

9 500

Finances

FinancesThe sources of income to the Bjerknes Centre are: a 12-year grant from the Ministry of Research and Education to the Centre for Climate Dynamics (SKD), recruitment positions from the University of Bergen, and research grants from the Research Council of Norway and the European Commission, as well as public and private funds. In 2015 the Centre’s overall sources of income was approximately 136 million kr, a growth of 18 million kr compared to 2014. The increment is mostly due to the award of three grants from the European Research Council (Starting, Consolidator and Synergy). The share of EC funding thus increased from 11% to 19% in 2015. Grants from the major funding agencies still account for almost 70% of the Centre´s total income.The Ministry supported the Centre with 28.1 million kr while the University of Bergen - SKD´s host - funded seven recruitment positions (5 PhD & 2 postdoc). Other public and private funds doubled in 2015 and originated from: NordForsk, East European Foundation Norway, Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education, Norwegian Agency for Development and Cooperation, Hordaland County Council & Regional Research Fund, Bergen Research Foundation, Svalbard Science Forum and Sparebanken Vest.

In-kind contributions from partner institutions (e.g. staff salary, ship time, computer resources, etc.) are not included in the table.

BCCR´S SOURCES OF

INCOME IN 2015

Ministry of Research and Education

University of Bergen

European Commission

Research Council og Norway

Other (public and private funds)

136. 300TOTAL

28 100

6 200

25 500

SOURCES OF INCOME NOK 1 000,–

Ministry of Research and Education 28 100

University of Bergen 6 200

European Commission 25 500

Research Council of Norway 67 000

Other (public and private funds) 9 500

Total income 136 300

EXTERNAL FUNDING

The graphic illustrates the funding distribution by strategic research theme at the Bjerknes Centre. Amounts in NOK 1 000.

Climate modelling

Climate predictions

Carbon cycle & biogeochemistry





BCCR´S FUNDING DISTRIBUTION IN 2015

12.000

15.000

14.000

17.000

8.000

20.000

16.000

The Grey Glacier, an outlet of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in Chile. The cravasses we see are huge, up to 20 meter wide and hundreds of meter long. PHOTO: WILLEM VAN DER BILT

Annual report Bjerknes Centre 201514 15

The strategic SKD projects 2015The Bjerknes Centre has eight strategic projects running from 2015 through 2017.

Total budget from SKD funding 42 MNOK.

Additional in-kind contribution 69 MNOK.

Water Cycle Extremes across Scales (WACYEX)

“Including people with knowledge of processes at all scales – from local topography to planetary waves – may allow us to understand completely new aspects of precipitation extremes.” Asgeir Sorteberg

WaCyEx will quantify observed changes in extreme precipitation events in Norway since 1900, as well as investigate the weather systems that caused them and how such systems may be influenced by the sea-surface temperature in the Gulf Stream and sea ice in the Arctic. In addition, the project will use a model that combines meteorology and hydrology to investigate how rivers respond to various types of extreme events. With this project the scientists may finally be able to answer a question that has been asked for a long time: Where does the water that rains-down over Norway come from? The research team in WP1 have mapped typical weather patterns of extreme events in the eastern and western parts of Norway. Extreme precipitation events have been simulated with a shift in temperature. In western Norway during fall and winter, increasing temperature leads to more precipitation but less snowfall. Less snow means more flooding, as the snowfall in the mountains does not contribute to flooding. A new publication on these results is in preparation.

FACTS

Leader — Asgeir SortebergPartners — NERSC, UNI, UiBDuration — 2015–2017Budget — NOK 4 mill.

Prediction and Regional Downscaling Models (PARADIGM)

“In addition to the potential of achieving realistic short-term climate predictions for regions on land, I find it extremely exciting that we may be able to use climate predictions in future fisheries management.” Anne Britt Sandsø

Weather forecast models provide detailed charts for the coming days, whereas global climate models project the large-scale climate for the coming century. PARADIGM steps into the gap in-between, aiming to provide predictions for the next decade, sufficiently detailed to be useful for society in our region. The prediction model has given promising results from technical tests. The results from 2015 show good possibilities for predictions in the northern Norwegian Sea outside Lofoten, an area important for Norwegian fisheries. Assimilation of sea ice is the main activity in the project now. Different evaluation tools have been made and are ready to be applied at different steps in the prediction model development. A new publication on model evaluation is in progress. Assessment of different downscaling models, with quantification of errors and uncertainties due to resolutions jumps and spin-up is a parallel activity in the project.

FACTS

Leader — Anne Britt SandøPartners — NERSC, IMR, UNI, UiBDuration — 2015–2018Budget — NOK 6 mill.

Strategic projects

Freshwater from the shelf to the interior ocean: effect on climate and water-mass transformation in the Nordic Seas (FRESHWATER)

“With the objective to improve process understand-ing of the role of ‘Freshwater’ in the Nordic Seas, this project has a particular importance for the prediction of future response to a warming climate.” Øystein Skagseth

In the Freshwater project we will combine seashell records and historical observations of sea-ice drift with instrumental observations and models to investigate how freshwater from the East Greenland Current impacts dense-water formation in the Iceland Sea, as well as the composition and exchange of water masses between the various basins of the Nordic Seas. During 2015 we have investigated hydrographic ship measurements in a section along the Mohns Ridge that separates the Lofoten basin and the Greenland basin. They show that exchanges of Arctic water from the Greenland Sea to the Norwegian Sea take place all along the ridge and within a thin vertical layer between ~300–600 m depth. The calculated geostrophic velocity from the hydrographic data shows also that there is large eddy activity over the ridge, where the horizontal scales of the eddies are 50 km and less.

FACTS

Leaders — Øystein Skagseth and Kjetil VågePartners — NERSC, IMR, UNI, UiBDuration — 2015–2017Budget — NOK 4 mill.

Biogeochemical change and detection (BIGCHANGE)

“I am really excited about the collaboration between Bjerknes biogeochemists and palaeoceanographers that this project makes possible.” Are Olsen

In the project BIGCHANGE, a collaboration between Bjerknes biogeo-chemists and palaeoceanographers will investigate the Atlantic carbon cycle and related circulation for the present-day, the recent past, past inter-glacials and the mid-Pliocene, about three million years ago. As a period when the global mean temperature was 2–3°C higher than today, carbon records from the mid-Pliocene can say something about what may be expected in a warmer future. During 2015 a research cruise to the North-Atlantic we found deep mixed layers saturated with anthropogenic carbon and oxygen. This indicates strong links between variability in the ocean circulation and the carbon uptake, and new publications on the cruise results are in progress. The results indicate a revitalized sink for anthropogenic CO2 in the North Atlantic in the past few years.

FACTS

Leaders — Are Olsen and Jerry TjiputraPartners — NERSC, IMR, UNI, UiBDuration — 2015–2017Budget — NOK 6 mill.


Greenland Margins: Glacial Ice, Ocean and Atmospheric Dynamics (MARGINS)

“MARGINS represents an exciting opportunity for real cross-disciplinary research on one of the hottest topics out there – and one of the coolest places there is.” Martin Miles

The small ice caps, mountain glaciers and outlet glaciers along the margins of Greenland respond more quickly to climatic changes than the vast Greenland ice sheet. MARGINS seeks to understand how these glaciers interact with the atmosphere, ocean and Arctic sea ice. The MARGINS-project is organised across three components: glaciers, ocean and atmosphere. During 2015, activities have focused largely on the Sermilik fjord region in southeast Greenland, a highly dynamic region in terms of ice-sheet discharge and ocean–ice–atmosphere interactions across a range of scales. Among the emerging results thus far are exciting new paleoclimate records from lakes in the Sermilik fjord region, and new understanding of the behaviour of the ice-sheet outlet glaciers (e.g., Helheim Glacier) in response to climate forcing.

FACTS

Leaders — Jostein Bakke and Martin MilesPartners — NERSC, IMR, UNI, UiBDuration — 2015–2017Budget — NOK 6 mill.

Strategic projects

Mechanisms of multi- Decadal Varibility in the Climate system (MEDEVAC)

“It will be particularly exciting to find out what sea-shells can teach us about climate in the past millennium. They can be considered the ‘tree-rings of the ocean’ , and can give us climate information back in time on seasonal to annual time scales, which is truly amazing.”Odd Helge Otterå

In the MEDEVAC-project we will use climate models to study and better characterise the mechanisms of climate variability on a decadal to centennial scale. We will study instrumental and proxy data from various sources, such as tree-rings, seashells, ice cores, glaciers, and lake and ocean sediments, to learn about the climate in the past. One particular goal of MEDEVAC is to assess the relative role of poleward atmospheric and oceanic heat transport and their coupling through the so-called Bjerknes compensation mechanism. Thus far, meridional heat transports in NorESM have been calculated and analyzed. There is a peak anti-correlation in the high latitudes as expected. There is a slightly higher peak that occurs at around 39.25 N, likely related to the North Atlantic storm tracks. Further model sensitivity experiments using NorESM are planned later in 2016. In terms of sclerochronology, a total of 148 specimens of the bivalve species Arctica islandica from the Faroese Shelf have been analyzed (see picture on page 40). Preliminary geochemical analyses indicate that a seasonal temperature signal is preserved in the delta-O-18 composition of the growth increments. Furthermore, the reconstructed temperatures correlate best with observed sea-surface temperatures from around April to July. This is in agreement with the main growing season of phytoplankton on the Faroese Shelf and further suggests elevated primary productivity to be one of the most important driving factors for the shell growth in A. islandica. In the coming months more samples will be extracted for geochemical analyses.

FACTS

Leader — Odd Helge OtteråPartners — NERSC, UNI, UiBDuration — 2015–2017Budget — NOK 6 mill.

Boundary Layers in the Arctic Atmosphere, Seas and Ice Dynamics (BASIC)

“We are excited to look at Earth’s future climate already today. As the Atlantic Arctic is warming faster and stronger than the rest of the world, we have the opportunity to observe environmental shifts which will happen in 20–40 years on the pan-Arctic scale.” Igor Ezau

BASIC focuses on complex boundary processes in the marginal ice zone, a zone that is becoming more widespread, and where the exchange of heat, moisture and CO2 between the air, sea and ice has a strong influence on both the ocean and the atmosphere. Specific attention is given to interacting air–sea boundary layer processes, which are key to controlling the sea-ice extent. The first year of BASIC has the focus on the major multi-disciplinary observational campaign in the Arctic Ocean on the board of the research vessel Lance. The rapid reduction of the sea ice extent in the Barents Sea are influenced by and drive a multitude of changes and feedbacks in the components of the regional climate system. Since 1990 there has been an observed gradual increase of the total cloudi-ness in the region, a climate-system response to the decreasing sea-ice cover. The increase of the total cloudiness counter-acts the ice–albedo feedback and manifests changes in the climate physics emerging in the “blue Arctic”. A new publication on this is in preparation (Chernokulsky et al.). The current BASIC activities are shifting to data analysis and modelling of the observed (and theoretically predicted) climate processes. In particular, researchers are eager to find out how the amplified polar warming is re-distributed across the air–sea interface under the reduced sea-ice cover conditions.

FACTS

Leader — Igor EzauPartners — NERSC, UNI, UiBDuration — 2015–2017Budget — NOK 6 mill.

Northern European and Arctic Sea lEvel (iNcREASE)

“With this project we have the opportunity to fo-cus on the largest and most uncertain component of sea-level change along our coasts that also has immediate potential for improvement in the climate models, the internal processes of the oceans!” Jan Even Øie Nilsen

iNcREASE seeks to improve projections of future sea level in the North Sea and along the Norwegian coast. Global warming causes sea-level changes in several ways, such as added water to the oceans due to melting of ice sheets. But the temperature itself also has an effect: warmer water takes up more space. Thus the effect will be larger in the deep oceans than on shallow shelves around the continents. As a result, water will flow towards land to level out the difference. In the North Sea and on the Norwegian continental shelf, variations in the speed of the Norwegian Atlantic Current also affect the sea level. The main result from iNcREASE thus far lies in the making of the official regional future sea-level projections for Norway. The average likely range of projected 21st century relative sea-level change in Norway is 10–65 cm for RCP8.5. This applied work has also clearly identified where the future efforts need to be made to improve coastal sea-level projections. For instance, the largest contribution to both magnitude and uncertainty of the projections for our region stem from ocean expansion and circulation changes. This is what iNcREASE is all about.

FACTS

Leader — Jan Even Øie NilsenPartners — NERSC, UiBDuration — 2015–2017Budget — NOK 4 mill.


22 (12 women)

6 (4 women)

22 (12 women)

64 (30 women)

Research training

ACTIVITY DURATION LECTURER LOCATION

The polar Winter Atmoshere. From Troposphere to Mesosphere

2 – 6 February Several speakers, see www.resclim.no Bergen

Writing sucessful project proposals 11 – 13 February Friedrike Urbassek Hoffmann Bergen

All Staff Meeting 3 – 7 March Several speakers Hurtigruten

Co-funded. Dynamics of the Atmosphere–Ice–Ocean Interaction in High Latitudes

23 –27 March Several speakers Rosendal

Co-funded. 45th International Arctic workshop 10 – 13 May Several speakers Bergen

Writing Workshop 1 –5 June Dallas Murphy Bergen

Advanced Statistics for Climate modellers 11 – 14 August David Stephenson and Theo Economou Bergen

ACDC: Climate and Volcanism 23 Aug – 4 September Several speakers Laugarvatn, Iceland

Presentation Techniques 7 – 9 September Matt MacGarrity Bergen

Co-funded. Fluid Emission analogues 14–18 September Several speakers Apennines, Italy

Co-funded. Greenhouse Gases in the Ocean and Climate Change

21 –25 September Several speakers Tromsø

Writing successful project proposals 18 – 20 November Friedrike Urbassek Hoffmann Bergen

Research training 2015

The Norwegian Research School in Climate Dynamics (ResClim) has since 2009 played an important role in educating climate researchers of the future. In 2015 over a hundred PhD candidates were offered a variety of high-level courses (see list below).

The PhD Conference has become an annual event, and this year was situated in Stockholm. Erwin Lambert from the Bjerknes Centre was in charge of the PhD candidates, at the event exclusively for them. The event is an arena for discussing ideas and results – relieved from the pressure of being around more senior scientists – as well as for networking between the emerging researchers.

During 2015 ResClim entered a transition phase, as its successor CHESS (The Norwegian Research School on Changing Climate in the coupled Earth System) is starting up. ResClim and CHESS will have a “coupled run” until 2017, and as ResClim ends, its members automatically will go over to CHESS.

During 2015 the success of ClimateSnack expanded into SciSnack, becoming accessible to all early-career scientists as a playground for developing good writing techniques for future publications. When it started back in 2012, ClimateSnack was meant for PhD students working on climate-related research, but has now become a platform accessible to all. ClimateSnack continues to function as a subgroup within SciSnack. Mathew Stiller-Reeve started up ClimateSnack as a PhD candidate at the Bjerknes Centre. Now a researcher at Uni Research and the Bjerknes Centre, he emphasises that learning to communicate research in the way that people can understand is a skill essential for the future of research and will help to bridge the gaps between disciplines.

Expanding from climate to all sciences

The ACDC Summer School participants eagerly inspecting a section of volcanic ash deposits. PHOTO: HENNING ÅKESSON

114 PHD CANDIDATES University of Bergen

University of Oslo

University of Tromsø

UNIS

52 SUPERVISORS University of Bergen

University of Oslo

University of Tromsø

UNIS

TOTAL

114(59 women)

8 (1 woman)

4 (0 women)

10 (6 women)

30 (10 women)

TOTAL

52(17 women)

Advanced Climate Dynamic Courses (ACDC) 2015

Volcanism was the natural theme of the programme when the ACDC Summer School headed off to Iceland. A group of 30 European and US-based PhD candidates and postdocs spent two weeks together on the volcanic island. The ACDC was, as always, interdisciplinary – gathering students and lecturers within atmospheric science, aerosol chemistry, physics, geology, glaciology, oceanography and palaeoclimatology.

The volcanic theme covered a wide range of time scales, from the Earth’s mantle processes, via the glacial cycles and mid-ocean ridge volcanism, to the rapid sequence of events following a single volcanic eruption. The nice weather provided good conditions for several field excursions around central and southern Iceland, including lava fields, natural hot springs and glaciers.

Studying volcanos in Iceland

Annual report Bjerknes Centre 201520 21Outreach

Outreach

The first Massive Online Open Course at UiB

During the first week of the online climate course Causes of Climate Change the big group of students posted more than 2200 comments, leaving the two mentors Mari Fjalstad Jensen and Silje Lund Sørland overwhelmed by the big task to answer the questions and encourage the students when meeting complicated terms or difficult equations. The course was the first MOOC, a massive open online course, developed at UiB. During the three-week course, the students were guided through the drivers of the climate system, hopefully letting them be able to see recently observed man-made changes in climate in the context of past natural changes. Professors Asgeir Sorteberg and Kerim Hestnes Nisancioglu at UiB and the Bjerknes Centre were the minds behind the online course. The course consisted of assignments, articles to read, group discussions with the professors and the mentoring team, as well as six video lectures recorded in Bergen, in the Norwegian mountains and in Greenland. Nisancioglu and Sorteberg were accompanied by a team consisting of the above-mentioned Jensen and Sørland together with Omar El Guernaoui and Sunil Kumar Pariyar. The course is a cross between education and information, and was pushing Sorteberg and Nisancioglu out of their comfort zone. The course was provided via the British MOOC platform Future Learn, who have already rebooked the course.

8000 participants in one course The run for ParisAt the Science Days in 2015, the theme was “Food”. It could be a challenge to connect this with your work when you are a researcher in climate and ice-sheet dynamics or in polar oceanography. But ocean-ographer Elin Darelius Chiche and ice-sheet modeller Petra Langebroek happily accepted this challenge. The two researchers, both at Uni Research Climate and the Bjerknes Centre, decided to organise a stand for school-children and their families at the Science Fair. The concept of density was explained to the general public by making colourful layered drinks, representing layers in the ocean. At the stand named “The layered ocean” or in Norwegian “Det lagdelte hav”, they let children make their own two-layered drinks with water and blackcurrant syrup, and handed out recipes for creating a multiple layered drink at home. Another experiment at the stand was called “Will it float?” Here the children could test whether fruits and vegetables would float in salty and/or in fresh water. Their third experiment demanded a bit more patience from the listeners. It showed what happened when coloured ice cubes melted in fresh and salty water. In one glass the melting coloured ice water mixed nicely with the fresh water. In the other glass the coloured water floated on top of the salty water, and also took more time to melt. To attend two full days at the stand, a helpful team of young researchers at the Bjerknes Centre stepped up (Mari, Ingrid, Amandine, Karen, Bjørg, Ellen, Henning, Stefanie and Aleksi). As part of the outreach package, Elin and Petra also wrote a story relating the layered drink to processes in the oceans, resulting in a nice two-page spread in the regional news-paper Bergens Tidende. They furthermore organised a competition collecting photos and recipes of layered drinks using #lagdelt2015 on Instagram.

Layered drinks and floating foodIn many aspects, the year of 2015 represents a fundamental shift in how the global society is framing the issue of climate change. The year culminated with the historic Paris Agreement adopted by the 195 nations in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agreement was not only to keep global warming well below 2°C, but also to “unleash actions and investment towards a low carbon, resilient and sustainable future”, quoting the UNFCCC.

The media attention and the expectations before the meeting were high, and the French government had used a lot of diplomacy to avoid the same negative results that the climate top meeting in Copenhagen six years earlier concluded in. About 40,000 participants visited Paris during the two busy weeks in December, and 25, 000 of these were official delegates including NGO’s and civil society. As always at the COP meetings a lively field of stands and pavilions surrounded the negotiations, giving room for a large variety of organisations to share ideas and promote emission cuts and a low carbon future.

Like many other research organisations, also the Bjerknes Centre attended the COP21. Together with UiB fellows at the CROP research programme, our director Tore Furevik and Eystein Jansen gave a talk on the status for the climate at the UNESCO stand in the conference area, at the UNESCO Headquarters in the Paris city centre, and for a Norwegian audience at the Norwegian ambassador’s residence.

The most spectacular outreach project of the year was no doubt Erlend Moster Knudsen and Dan Price’s project Pole to Paris. The two young researchers, with PhDs on Arctic and Antarctic climate, started out from each end of the world – one running and one biking – and ended up in Paris at the COP21 meeting.

Dan Price jumped on his bike in Christchurch, New Zealand, in April, and in August, five months after he successfully defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Bergen and the Bjerknes Centre, Knudsen set out from Tromsø, running through the Norwegian mountains all the way to Bergen. After a well deserved break, he continued his run from London to the French capital.

The aim was simply to raise attention on climate change and the need for a global climate agreement. Along the way they gave talks at schools and for organisations. They managed to get at good deal of media attention on their project, including notable media such as the CNN, the Guardian, and Huffington Post.

At home in Bergen, the Bjerknes scientists have this year set a record in contributing with popular science written for the news media, with more than twenty contributions in a variety of columns throughout the year. These included many new voices from the young scientists, which also greatly contributed to the 2°C magazine and other outreach activities at the Centre – a good and promising spirit.

The MOOC-team met every morning at 10.00 during the three course weeks. From the left, Mari Fjalstad Jensen, Asgeir Sorteberg, Omar El Guernaoui, Sunil Kumar Pariyar. The photographer Silje Lund Sørland, was also participating in the group. PHOTO: SILJE LUND SØRLAND

Petra Langebroek and Elin Darelius Chiche at their stand in the Science Fair. Erlend Moster Knudsen, crossing the Jotunheimen Mountains in Norway, on his run from Tromsø to Bergen. Knudsen (to the left in front of the Eiffel Tower) is a Ph.D in Arctic climate and ran 2,500 km to Paris, while Daniel Price, Ph.D in Antarctic climate cycled 10,000 km from New Zealand to Paris. PHOTOS: ERLEND MOSTER KNUDSEN


GLOBAL DIMENSION

ARGO Program: Dr. Kjell Arne Mork is a member

of the Argo Steering Team.

Arctic-Subarctic Ocean Fluxes (ASOF):

Prof. Tor Eldevik is a member of the international

scientific steering group.

Fixed point Open Ocean Observatories (FIXO3):

Truls Johannessen is a member of the steering

committee.

Framework of Ocean Observing (FOO/GOOS):

Prof. Christoph Heinze is a member of

the Ocean Observing Panel for Biogeochemistry.

Global Climate Forum (GCF): BCCR is a member

of the Global Climate Forum (GCF), a non-profit

organization located at PIK in Potsdam, Germany.

Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network

(GOA-ON): Dr. Benjamin Pfeil is an executive

council member.

International Arctic Science Committee (IASC):

Prof. Thomas Spengler is a representative for

Norway in the Atmospheric Working Group (AWG)

and currently elected as chair of the AWG.

International Commission on Dynamical

Meteorology (ICDM):

Prof. Thomas Spengler is an elected member.

International Commission on the

Middle Atmosphere (ICMA):

Yvan Orsolini is elected member.

International Council for the Exploration

of the Seas (ICES):

• Working Group on Hydrography:

Dr. Kjell Arne Mork, senior scientist Svein Østerhus,

Dr. Randi Ingvaldsen and Dr. Øystein Skagseth

are members.

• Study Group on Ocean Acidification:

Dr. Are Olsen is a member.

• Working Group on Modelling

Physical/Biological Interactions WGPBI:

Prof. Corinna Schrum is a member.

• Working Group on Operational Oceanographic

Products for Fisheries and Environment

WGOOFE: Prof. Corinna Schrum is a member.

• Working Group on Integrated Assessments of

the North Sea WGNIOSE: Prof. Corinna Schrum

is a member.

International Geosphere-Biosphere programme

(IGBP) and World Climate Research Program

(WCRP):

• Climate and the Cryosphere Project (CliC):

Professor Lars H. Smedsrud is a member of the

scientific steering group (SSG).

• Large-scale integrating project CARBOCHANGE,

coordinated by Prof. Christoph Heinze, was

endorsed by the IGBP/SCOR sponsored projects

SOLAS and IMBER.

• Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS):

Prof. Christoph Heinze is a member of the SSC.

• Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and

Ecosystem Research (IMBER):

Senior Scientist Ken Drinkwater is an SSC member.

• Ecosystem Studies of Subarctic Seas (ESSAS):

Senior Scientist Ken Drinkwater is co-chair

of this IMBER regional program.

• Past Global Changes (PAGES):

Prof. Ulysses Ninnemann is on the SSC of IMAGES,

the marine component of PAGES.

• PAGES Arctic 2k working group:

Prof. Jostein Bakke is co-leader.

• PAGES/CLIVAR joint working group:

Prof. Eystein Jansen is a member.

• CLIVAR Climate Dynamics Panel:

Prof. Noel Keenlyside is a member.

• CLIVAR Climate Variability and Predictability.

Dr. Ken Drinkwater is a member of the scientific

steering group (SSG).

• CLIVAR Global Synthesis and Observations Panel:

Dr. Are Olsen is a member.

• Prof. Eystein Jansen is a member of the scientific

advisory board of IC3-Climate Centre, Barcelona.

• Working Group for Seasonal to Interannual

Predictability (WGSIP): Dr. Yvan Orsolini is

member of the WMO-WCRP.

International Marine Global Changes Program

(IMAGES): Prof. Ulysses S. Ninnemann

is the Norwegian representative.

International Ocean Carbon Coordination

Project (IOCCP): Dr. Are Olsen and Benjamin Pfeil

are scientific steering committee member.

North Atlantic Virtual Institute (NAVIS):

Prof. Tor Eldevik is member of the NSF collaborative

project’s steering committee.

OceanSITES: Senior Scientist Svein Østerhus

is a member of the steering committee.

PANGAEA – Data Publisher for Earth

and Environmental Science:

Benjamin Pfeil is a member of the editorial board.

Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT):

Benjamin Pfeil and Dr. Are Olsen are members

of the Global Coordination Group. Camilla Landa,

Benjamin Pfeil and Dr. Are Olsen are members

of the SOCAT automation group.

World Universities Network (WUN) Global

Challenge – Responding to Climate Change:

Prof. Tore Furevik is in the steering group.

EUROPEAN DIMENSION

Bolin Centre, University of Stockholm:

Prof. Eystein Jansen is member of the

Science Advisory Board.

Coordinates Regional Downscaling Experiments

(Euro-CORDEX): Dr. Stefan Sobolowski

is co-coordinator and point of contact.

COST – European Cooperation in Science and

Technology:

• Senior Scientist Svein Østerhus is a member of

the COST action “Everyone’s Gliding Observatories”

Management Committee.

• Drs. Anne Britt Sandø and Laurent Bertino are

members of the COST Action “Evaluation of

Ocean Syntheses”.

ECO2: Prof. Christoph Heinze is a member of the

Scientific Advisory Board of the EU FP7 project

Sub-seabed CO2 Storage: Impact on Marine

Ecosystems (ECO2).

East Greenland ice core drilling project (EGRIP):

Prof. Kerim Hestnes Nisancioglu is Norwegian

representative and member of steering committee.

ECCORD Science Support and Advisory

Committee (ESSAC): Dr. Helga F. Kleiven

is Norwegian national delegate.

European Climate Research Alliance (ECRA):

• Prof. Lars Henrik Smedsrud is co-chair of the

Programme on Arctic Climate Stability

and Change.

• Dr. J. Even Ø. Nilsen is co-chair of the

Collaborative Programme on Sea Level

and Climate Change.

• Prof. Eystein Jansen is member of the

executive board of ECRA.

European Marine Board: Dr. Helga Flesche Kleiven

is the Norwegian academic representative.

FORMAS Review Panel Climate Change:

Prof. Corinna Schrum is a panel chair.

JPI Climate – Module 1:

Engagements 2015

Engagements and Finances 2015

Prof. Tore Furevik is national representative.

KLIWAS Impacts of climate change on waterways

and navigation – Searching for options of adapta-

tion; research program of the German Federal Min-

istry of Transport, Building and Urban development

BMVBS: Prof. Corinna Schrum is a member of the

scientific advisory board.

NATIONAL DIMENSION

COSPAR (Committee for Space Research):

Dr. Yvan Orsolini is a national representative.

Notur/Norstore Resource Allocation:

Prof. Noel Keenlyside is a member.

Nansen legacy (“Arven etter Nansen”)

– a national consortium for a coordinated

research programme: Prof. Nils Gunnar Kvamstø

is a member of the steering committee.

Norwegian Climate Foundation:

Dr. Helga Flesche Kleiven is on the board of directors.

Research Council of Norway:

Mount Ulriken seen form the city center in winter sun. PHOTO: PETRA LANGEBROEK

KLIMAFORSK programme board:

Prof. Tore Furevik is vice chairman.

Research Council of Norway: Norway–India

Programme Advisory Committee:

Prof. Eystein Jansen is a member.

SUCCESS:

Prof. Truls Johannessen is board member for UiB.


After five weeks locked in the sea ice, the ice crackled due to high winds. Instruments and equipment secured by fenders needed rescue. 68 researchers from 11 countries contributed to the six months long field campaign N-ICE 2015, hosted by the Norwegian Polar Institute. PHOTO: ALGOT PETERSON

Annual report Bjerknes Centre 201526 27Organisation

SECRETARIAT

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

BOARD

DIRECTOR

RESEARCH GROUPS

RG1

RG2

RG3

RG4

RG5

RG6

RG7

Climate model development and projections

Climate predictions from global to regional scales

Carbon cycle and biogeochemistry





LEADER GROUP

Organisation

THE LEADER GROUPThe leader group is comprised of the Director, head of administration, research leaders of the Centre for Climate Dynamics and leaders of the Bjerknes research groups. Their mandate includes the forging and implementation of the Centre’s strategic scientific development, and to act as a channel of communication among the partners.

TORE FUREVIK Professor (Director), Climate dynamics, UiB

TOR ELDEVIK Professor, Oceanography, UiB

IGOR EZAU Scientist, Meteorology, NERSC

CHRISTOPH HEINZE Professor, Carbon cycle modelling, UiB/Uni Research

CAMILLE LI Associate professor, Atmospheric dynamics, UiB

KERIM NISANCIOGLU Professor, Past climate dynamics, UiB

ARE OLSEN Associate professor, Biogeochemistry, UiB

ODD HELGE OTTERÅ Scientist, Climate modelling, Uni Research

BJØRG RISEBROBAKKEN Scientist, Palaeoclimatology, Uni Research

ANNE BRITT SANDØ Scientist, Oceanography, IMR

BEATRIZ BALINO Dr scient, Head of administration, UiB

RESEARCH GROUPS LEADER (CO-LEADER)

RG1 Climate model developments and projections O.H. Otterå (M. Bentsen)

RG2 Climate predictions from global to regional scales A. B. Sandø (N. Keenlyside)

RG3 Carbon cycle and biogeochemistry C. Heinze (A. Olsen)

RG4 Large-scale atmosphere-ocean dynamics C. Li (T. Eldevik)

RG5 Atmosphere, cryosphere and ocean processes I. Ezau (L.H. Smedsrud)

RG6 Natural climate variability J. Bakke (A. Bjune)

RG7 Past climate dynamics B. Risebrobakken (K. Nisancioglu)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ANTON ELIASSEN Director, MET Norway (leader)

ANNE LISE FIMREITE Pro-Rector, UiB

AINA BERG Managing director, Uni Research Ltd

STEIN SANDVEN / JOHNNY JOHANNESSEN* Director, NERSC

HARALD LOENG / GEIR HUSE* Research director, IMR

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

JENS HESSELBJERG CHRISTENSEN Danish Meteorological Institute, Denmark

MICHAEL SCHULZ Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany

DETLEF STAMMER Center for Marine and Climate Research, University of Hamburg, Germany

DAVID THOMPSON Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, USA

ANDREW WATSON College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, UK

SECRETARIAT

BEATRIZ BALINO Head of administration, UiB

GUDRUN SYLTE Head of communications, Uni Research

ELLEN GRONG Senior secretary, UiB

QUYNH-GIAO THI DO Financial officer, UiB

* From November 1st

BJERKNES RESEARCH GROUPThe science strategy is organised in seven research topics lead by teams. with specific goals, objectives and implementation plans.

Annual report Bjerknes Centre 201528 29Staff

Staff

Muralidhar Adakudlu India Uni Research Atmospheric modelling

Lars Asplin Norway IMR Oceanographic modelling

Irina P. Asteman Russia Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Jostein Bakke Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Mats Bentsen Norway Uni Research Climate modelling

Jon Bergh Sweden NERSC Oceanography, sea ice

Laurent Bertino France NERSC Data assimilation

Ingo Bethke Germany Uni Research Climate modelling

Bhuwan Bhatt India Uni Research Regional modelling

Hilary Birks UK UiB Palaeoecology

John Birks UK UiB Palaeoecology

Anne Bjune Norway Uni Research Palaeoecology

Paul Budgell Canada IMR Oceanographic modelling

Alberto Carrassi Italy NERSC Geophysics, mathematics

Linling Chen China NERSC Meteorology

Youmin Chen China Uni Research Meteorology, climate modelling

Elin Darelius Chiche Sweden Uni Research Physical oceanography

Francois Counillon France NERSC Oceanography

Ute Daewel Germany NERSC Marine biology

Carin A. Dahl Sweden Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Svein Olaf Dahl Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Stijn De Schepper Belgium Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Teferi Demissie Ethiopia Uni Research Climate modelling

Trond Dokken Norway Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Helge Drange Norway UiB Climate modelling

Ken Drinkwater Canada IMR Oceanography, marine ecosystems

Christian Dylmer Denmark Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Tor Eldevik Norway UiB Oceanography and climate dynamics

Igor Esau Russia NERSC Meteorology

Elizabeth Farmer UK UiB Palaeoclimates

Ilker Fer Turkey UiB Physical oceanography

Tore Furevik Norway UiB Ocean dynamics and modelling

Yongqi Gao China NERSC Oceanography

Mohamad el Gharamti Lebanon NERSCHydrology, ocean modelling, data assimilation and forecasting

Nadine Goris Germany Uni Research Carbon cycle modelling

SCIENTISTS

Chuncheng Guo China Uni ResearchPhysical oceanography and ocean-climate modelling

Alok Kumar Gupta India Uni Research Climate modelling

Haflidi Haflidason Iceland UiB Palaeoclimates

Bjarte Hannisdal Norway UiB Geobiology

Peter Haugan Norway UiB Polar oceanography

Christoph Heinze Germany UiB Carbon cycle modelling

Solfrid Hjøllo Norway IMR Physical oceanography

Mehmet Ilicak Turkey Uni Research Ocean dynamics and modelling

Nil Irvali Turkey UiB Palaeoclimates

Detelina Ivanova Bulgaria NERSC Climate modelling

Natalia Ivanova Russia NERSC Remote sensing, sea ice

Eystein Jansen Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Emil Jeansson Sweden Uni Research Biogeochemistry

Truls Johannessen Norway UiB Biogeochemistry

Noel Keenlyside Australia UiB Tropical meteorology

Martin King Malaysia Uni Research Meteorology

Kikki Kleiven Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Erik Kolstad Norway Uni Research Meteorology

Shunya Koseki Japan UiB Meteorology

Trond Kristiansen Norway IMR Physical oceanography

Nils Gunnar Kvamstø Norway UiB Meteorology

Petra Langebroek Netherlands Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Helene R. Langehaug Norway NERSC Palaeoclimates

Stein Erik Lauritzen Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Siv Lauvset Norway Uni Research Biogeochemistry

Hanna Lee South Korea Uni Research Terrestrial biogeochemistry

Camille Li Canada UiB Atmospheric dynamics

Lu Li China Uni Research Atmospheric modelling

Øyvind Lie Norway Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Henriette Linge Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Torbjørn Lorentzen Norway Uni Research Economics and statistics

Kjetil Lygre Norway NERSC Biogeochemistry, modelling

Jan Mangerud Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Stephanie Mayer Germany Uni Research Meteorology

Nele Meckler Switzerland UiB Palaeoclimates

Michel Mesquita Brazil Uni Research Atmospheric dynamics

Martin Miles USA Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Victoria Miles Russia NERSC Environmental remote sensing

Kjell Arne Mork Norway IMR Ocean modelling

Atle Nesje Norway UiB Palaeoclimates


Jan Even Øie Nilsen Norway NERSC Oceanography

Ulysses NInnemann USA UiB Palaeoclimates

Kerim Nisancioglu Norway UiB Past climate dynamics

Einar Olason Iceland NERSC Sea-ice dynamics

Are Olsen Norway UiB Biogeochemistry

Abdirahman Omar Somalia Uni Research Biogeochemistry

Odd-Helge Otterå Norway Uni Research Climate modelling

Stephen Outten UK NERSC Atmospheric dynamics

Pierre Rampal France NERSC Physical oceanography and glaciology

Joachim Reuder Germany UiB Meteorology

Bjørg Risebrobakken Norway Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Annette Samuelsen Norway NERSC Physical oceanography

Anne Britt Sandø Norway IMR Ocean modelling

Corinna Schrum Germany UiB Oceanography and marine ecosystems

Jörg Schwinger Germany Uni Research Carbon cycle modelling

Mao-Lin Shen Taiwan UiB Meteorology

Øystein Skagseth Norway IMR Physical oceanography

Ingunn Skjelvan Norway Uni Research Biogeochemistry

Morten Skogen Norway IMR Ocean modelling

Rannveig Skoglund Norway UiB Physical geography and palaeoclimates

Lars H. Smedsrud Norway UiB Polar oceanography

Stefan Sobolowski USA Uni Research Atmospheric dynamics

Harald Sodemann Germany UiB Atmospheric dynamics

Asgeir Sorteberg Norway UiB Meteorology

Thomas Spengler Germany UiB Meteorology

Mathew Stiller-Reeve UK Uni Research Meteorology

Jørund Strømsøe Norway Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Lingling Suo China NERSC Meteorology

John Inge Svendsen Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Henrik Søiland Norway IMR Physical oceanography

Amandine Tisserand France Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Jerry Tjiputra Indonesia Uni Research Carbon cycle modelling

Thomas Toniazzo Italy Uni Research Meteorology

Frode Vikebø Norway IMR Climate, marine ecosystems

Ellen Marie Viste Norway UiB Meteorology

Kjetil Våge Norway UiB Physical oceanography

Henning Wehde Germany IMR Physical oceanography

Timothy Williams UK NERSC Oceanography

Zhongshi Zhang China Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Svein Østerhus Norway Uni Research Physical oceanography

Bjørn Ådlandsvik Norway IMR Physical oceanography

Mostafa Bakhoday Iran UiB Physical oceanography

Sarah Berben Belgium UiB Palaeoclimates

Sylvain Bouillon Belgium NERSC Sea ice dynamics

Catherine Bradshaw UK UiB Biogeochemistry

Jo Brendryen Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Carina Bringedal Norway UiB Mathematics, oceanography

Laura Ciasto USA UiB Atmospheric dynamics

Richard Davy Norway NERSC Climate physics

Basile de Fleurian France UiB Palaeoclimates

Eirik Galaasen Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Shuang Gao China UiB Biogeochemistry

Philipp Griewank Germany NERSCOcean Modelling, Data Assimilation and Forecasting

Yanchun He China NERSC Oceanography/modelling

Paul Hezel USA UiB Atmospheric dynamics

Anna Hughes UK UiB Palaeoclimates

Erica Madonna Switzerland UiB Atmospheric dynamics

Clio Michel France UiB Meteorology

Mari S. Myksvoll Norway IMR Physical oceanography

Fumiaki Ogawa Japan UiB Meteorology

Sædis Olafsdottir Iceland UiB Palaeoclimates

Nour-Eddine Omrani Germany UiB Tropical meteorology

Lukas Papritz Switzerland UiB Meteorology

Vivi Pedersen Denmark UiB Palaeoclimates

Alison Piasecki USA UiB Quaternary Earth Systems

Susana Mendes

Reuder Portugal UiB Meteorology

Sebastian Schemm Switzerland UiB Atmospheric, ocean and climate dynamics

Margit Simon Germany Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Svetlana Sorokina Russia UiB Meteorology

Clemens Spensberger Germany UiB Meteorology

Kristian Vasskog Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Yiguo Wang China NERSC Statistics

Johannes Werner Germany UiB Palaeoclimates

Marius Årthun Norway UiB Oceanography, climate dynamics

POSTDOCS


Paul Bachem Germany Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Patrik Bohlinger Germany UiB Meteorology

Fabian Bonitz Germany Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Helle Botnen Norway UiB Biogeochemistry

Rocio Castaño-Primo Spain UiB Physical oceanography

Caroline Clotten Germany Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Kjersti Daae Norway UiB Physical oceanography

Pierre de Wet South Africa UiB Physical oceanography

Marie Eide Norway UiB Oceanography

Astrid Fremme Norway UiB Experimental meteorology

Friederike Fröb Germany UiB Biogeochemistry

Marthe Gjerde Norway UiB Quaternary geology, palaeoclimates

Stephanie Gleixner Germany UiB Tropical meteorology

Omar El Guernaoui Morocco UiB Meteorology

Lisbeth Håvik Norway UiB Physical oceanography

Mari Fjalstad Jensen Norway UiB Climate dynamics, palaeoclimates

Stefan Keiderling Germany UiB Meteorology

Erlend Moster Knudsen Norway UiB Climate dynamics

Valerie Kumer Austria UiB Meteorology

Erwin Lambert Netherlands UiB Climate dynamics

Thomas Leutert Switzerland UiB Palaeoclimates

Sigrid Gjessing Lind Norway IMR Physical oceanography

Nora Loose Germany UiB Palaeoclimates

Niklas Meinicke Germany UiB Quaternary Earth Systems

Anne Moree Netherlands UiB Biogeochemistry

Aleksi Nummelin Finland UiB Ocean dynamics

Ingrid H. Onarheim Norway UiB Physical oceanography and sea ice

Lea Toska Oppedal Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Sunil Kumar Pariyar Nepal UiB Tropical meteorology

Algot Peterson Norway UiB Physical oceanography

Andreas Plach Switzerland UiB Palaeoglaciology, ice flow modelling

Balamuralli Rajasakaren India Uni Research Biogeochemistry

Jonathan Rheinlænder Denmark UiB Physical oceanography

Lander Rodriguez-Crespo Spain UiB Climate dynamics

Torgeir Røthe Norway UiB Palaeoclimates

Henrik Sadatzki Germany UiB Palaeoclimates

Mari Sandvik Norway UiB Meteorology

Evangeline Sessford Canada UiB Palaeoclimates

Lea Svendsen Norway NERSC Climate dynamics

PHD CANDIDATESSilje Lund Sørland Norway UiB Meteorology

Tamara Trofimova Russia Uni Research Palaeoclimates

Willem van der Bilt Netherlands UiB Palaeoclimates

Yongbiao Weng China UiB Meteorology

Tobias Wolf Germany NERSC Meteorology

Henning Åkesson Sweden UiB Palaeoclimates, glaciology

Beatriz Balino Norway UiB Head of administration, Bjerknes Secretariat

Ragna Breines Norway UiB Project manager, RESCLIM

Tor de Lange Norway UiB Senior Engineer, Biogeochemistry

Mahaut de Vareilles France UiB Project Manager, PREFACE

Ellen Grong Norway UiB Senior secretary, Bjerknes Secretariat

Friederike Hoffmann Germany UiB Science coordinator, GFI

Kristin Jackson USA UiB Engineer, biogeochemistry

Camilla Landa Norway UiB Engineer, data manager BCDC

Stefanie Meyer Germany UiB Project manager, CARRBOCHANGE

Marek Ostrowski Norway IMR Engineer, physical oceanography

G. Benjamin Pfeil Germany UiB Senior Engineer, data management BCDC

Erik Sandquist Norway Uni Research Science coordinator, Uni Research

Eivind Støren Norway Uni Research Senior Engineer, GEO, Palaeoclimates

Gudrun Sylte Norway Uni Climate Head of communications, Bjerknes Secretariat

Quynh-Giao Thi Do Vietnam UiB Finances, Bjerknes Secretariat

TECHNICAL & ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

PERSONNEL SUMMARYNumber of scientific personnel, sorted by category and partners

STAFF

Category UiB Uni Research NERSC IMR Total Foreigners % Women %

Scientists 40 43 21 13 117 58% 26%

Postdocs 26 1 5 1 33 82% 42%

PhD candidates 37 5 2 1 45 64% 49%

Total 103 49 28 15 195

Category Staff Foreigners % Women %

Academics 195 62% 36%

Technicians & administration 15 40% 67%

Total 210


1. Asteman, I.P., Schönfeld, J. (2015): Recent invasion of the foraminifer Nonionella stella Cushman and Moyer 1930 in northern European waters: evidence from the Skagerrak and its fjords. Journal of Micropaleontology. doi: 10.1144/jmpaleo2015-007

2. Bakhoday, M.P., Bryhni, H.T., Reuder, J. , Fer, I. (2015): Lagrangian measurement of waves and near surface turbulence from acoustic instru-ments. Energy Procedia, 80, 141–150, doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2015.11.416

3. Birks, H.H., Gelorinia, V., Robinson, E., Hoek, W.Z. (2015): Impacts of palaeoclimate change 60,000-8000 years ago on humans and their environments in Europe: Integrating palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data. Quaternary International, 378, 4-13, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.02.022

4. Birks, Hw H.H. (2015): How have ancient-DNA studies from sediments contributed to the reconstruction of Quaternary floras? New Phytologist, doi: 10.1111/nph.13657

5. Botnen, H.A. Omar, A.M., Thorseth, I., Johannessen, T., Alendal, G. (2015): The effect of submarine CO2 vents on seawater: Implications for detection of subsea carbon sequestration leakage. Limnology and Oceanography, 60, doi: 10.1002/lno.10037

6. Bouillon, S., Rampal, P. (2015): On producing sea ice deformation data sets from SAR-derived sea ice motion. The Cryosphere, 9, 663-673, doi:10.5194/tc-9-663-2015

7. Bouillon, S., Rampal, P. (2015): Presentation of the dynamical core of neXtSIM, a new sea ice model. Ocean Modelling, 91, 23–37, doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2015.04.005

8. Brendryen, J., Haflidason, H., Rise, L., Chand, S., Vanneste, M., Longva, O., L’heuréux, J.-S. ND Forsberg, C.F. (2015): Ice sheet dynamics on the Lofoten-vesterålen shelf, north Norway, from Late MIS-3 to Heinrich Stadial 1. Quaternary Science Reviews http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.03.015 Chen, L., X. Fettweis, X. Knudsen, E.M., Johannessen, O.M. (2015): Impact of cyclonic and anticyclonic activity on the Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass balance variation during 1980-2013. International Journal of Climatology, DOI: 10.1002/joc.4565

9. Ciasto, L. M., Simpkins, G.R., England, M.H. (2015): Teleconnections between tropical Pacific SST anomalies and extratropical Southern Hemisphere climate. Journal of Climate, 28, 56-65. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-p.14-00438.1

10. Daewel, U., Schrum, C., Gupta, A. (2015). About the predictive potential of early life stage IBMs: an example for Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua ) in the North Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 534: 199-219

11. Darelius, E., Fer, I., T. Rasmussen, Guo, C., Larsen, K.M.H. (2015). On the modulation of the periodicity of the Faroe Bank Channel overflow instabilities. Ocean Science, 11, 855-871, doi: 10.5194/os-11-855-2015.

12. De Schepper, S., Schreck, M., Beck, K.M, Matthiessen, J., Fahl, K., Mangerud, G. (2015): Early Pliocene onset of modern Nordic Seas circula-tion related to ocean gateway changes. Nature Communications, 6, 8659, doi:10.1038/ncomms9659

13. Esau, I., Davy, R. (2015): The climate role of shallow stably stratified atmospheric boundary layers. Report Series in Aerosol Science, 163, 151-154, ISSN 0784-3496, ISBN 978-952-7091-16-6

14. Felde, V.A., Peglar, S.M., Bjune, A.E., Grytnes, J.-A., Birks, H.J.B. (2015): Modern pollen-plant richness and diversity relationships exist along a vegetational gradient in southern Norway. The Holocene, DOI:10.1177/0959683615596843

15. Fer, I., Müller, M., Peterson, A. K. (2015): Tidal forcing, energetics, and mixing near the Yermak Plateau. Ocean Science, 11, 287-304, doi: 10.5194/os-11-287-2015.

16. Gjerde, M. , Bakke, J. , Vasskog K. , Nesje, A. , Hormes, A. (2015): Holocene glacier variability and Neoglacial hydroclimate at Ålfotbreen, western Norway. Quaternary Science Reviews, 133, 28–47, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.004

17. Goris, N., Tjiputra, J., Schwinger, J., Heinze, C. (2015): Responses of carbon uptake and oceanic pCO2 to climate change in the North Atlantic: A model study with the Bergen Earth System Model. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 29, doi:10.1002/2015GB005109

18. Heinze, C., Meyer, S., Goris, N., Anderson, L., Steinfeldt, R., Chang, N., Le Quéré, C.,Bakker, D.C.E. (2015): The ocean carbon sink – impacts, vulnerabilities, and challenges. Earth System Dynamics, 6, 327-358, doi:10.5194/esd-6-327-2015

19. Hughes, A.L.C., Gyllencreutz, R., Lohne, Ø.S., Mangerud, J., Svendsen, J.I. (2015): The last Eurasian Ice Sheets – a chronological database and time-slice reconstruction, DATED-1. Boreas, doi:10.1111/bor.12142

20. King, M.P., Hell, M., Keenlyside, N. (2015): Investigation of the atmospheric mechanisms related to the autumn sea ice and winter circula-tion link in the Northern Hemisphere. Climate Dynamics, doi: 10.1007/s00382-015-2639-5

Bjerknes scientists are indicated in bold

Selected publications

21. Knudsen, E.M. , Orsolini, Y.J., Furevik, T., Hodges, K.I. (2015):Observed anomalous atmospheric patterns in summers of unusual Arctic sea ice melt. Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, 7, 2595-2611,doi: 10.1002/2014JD022608

22. Kolstad, E.W, Sobolowski, S.P, Scaife, A.A. (2015): Intraseasonal persistence of European surface temperatures. Journal of Climate, 28, 5365–5374. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0053.1

23. Kolstad, E.W. (2015): Extreme small-scale wind episodes over the Barents Sea: When, where and why? Climate Dynamics, 45, 7, 2137-2150, doi: 10.1007/s00382-014-2462-4

24. Larsen, A., Egge, J. K., Nejstgaard, J. C., Capua, l.D., Thyrhaug, R., Bratbak, G., Thingstad, T.F. (2015): Contrasting response to nutrient manipu-lation in Arctic mesocosms are reproduced by a minimum microbial food web model. Limnology and Oceanography, 60, 360-374.

25. Lauvset, S.K., Gruber, N., Landschützer, P., Olsen, A., Tjiputra, J. (2015): Trends and drivers in global surface ocean pH over the past 3 decades. Biogeosciences, 12, 1285-1298, doi:10.5194/bg-12-1285-2015

26. Le Quéré, C, Lauvset, S.K., Olsen, A., Pfeil, B., Schwinger, J., et al (2015): Global carbon budget 2015. Earth System Science Data, 7, 349-396,DOI: 10.5194/essd-7-349-2015

27. Lohmann, K., Mignot, J., Langehaug, H.R., Jungclaus, J.H., Matei, D., Otterå, O.H., Gao, Y., Mjell,T. L., Ninnemann, U.S., Kleiven, H. F. (2015): Using simulations of the last millennium to understand climate variability seen in palaeo-observations: similar variation of Iceland–Scotland overflow strength and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Climate of the Past, 11, doi:10.5194/cp-11-203-2015

28. Mangerud, J., Aarseth, I., Hughes, A.L.C., Lohne, Ø.S., Skår, K.,Sønstegaard, E., Svendsen, J.I., (2015): A major re-growth of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in western Norway during Allerød-Younger Dryas. Quaternary Science Reviews, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.11.013

29. Mayer,S., Fox Maule, C., Sobolowski, S., Christensen, O.B., Sørup, H.J.D. Sunyer, M.A. Arnbjerg-Nielsen, K., Barstad, I. (2015): Identifying added value in high-resolution climate simulations over Scandinavia. Tellus, 67, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v67.24941

30. Mecking, J.V., Keenlyside, N.S., Greatbatch, R.J. (2015): Multiple timescales of stochastically forced North Atlantic Ocean variability: A model study. Ocean Dynamics, 65, 1367-1381, doi:10.1007/s10236-015-0868-0.

31. Medhaug, I., Drange, H. (2015): Global and regional surface cooling in a warming climate: a multi model analysis. Climate Dynamics, DOI 10.1007/s00382-015-2811-y

32. Mjell, T.L., Ninnemann, U.S., Eldevik, T.,Kleiven, H.K.F. (2015) Holocene multidecadal- to millennial-scale variations in Iceland-Scotland overflow and their relationship to climate. Paleoceanography, 30, DOI:10.1002/2014PA002737

33. Moore, G.W.K., Våge, K., Pickart, R.S. Renfrew, I.A. (2015): Open-ocean convection becoming less intense in the Greenland and Iceland Seas. Nature Climate Change, doi:10.1038/nclimate2688,

34. Nnamchi, H. C., Li, J.,Kucharski, F, Kang, I-S, Keenlyside, N.S., Chang, P., Farneti, R. (2015): Thermodynamic controls of the Atlantic Niño. Nature Communications, 6, doi:10.1038/ncomms9895

35. Nummelin, A., Ilicak, M., C. Li, C. Smedsrud, L.H. (2015): Consequences of future increased arctic runoff on Arctic Ocean stratification, circulation, and sea ice cover. Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans, DOI: 10.1002/2015JC011156

36. Nummelin, A., Li, C., Smedsrud, L.H. (2015): Response of Arctic Ocean stratification to changing river runoff in a column model. Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans, 120,4, 2655-2635, DOI: 10.1002/2014JC010571

37. Ogawa, F., Omrani, N.-E., Nishii, K., Nakamura, H., Keenlyside, N. (2015): Ozone-induced climate change propped up by the Southern Hemisphere oceanic front. Geophysical Research Letters, 42, 10,056–10,063, doi:10.1002/2015GL066538

38. Olsen, A., Anderson, L.G., Heinze, C. (2015): Arctic carbon cycle: Patterns, impacts and possible changes. The New Arctic, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17602-4_8

39. Omrani, N. E., Bader, J., Keenlyside, N.S., Manzini, S. (2015): Troposphere–stratosphere response to large-scale North Atlantic Ocean variability in an atmosphere/ocean coupled model. Climate Dynamics, 46, 1-19, doi:10.1007/s00382-015-2654-6

40. Onarheim, I., Eldevik, T., Årthun, M., Ingvaldsen, R.B., Smedsrud, L.H. (2015): Skillful prediction of Barents Sea ice cover. Geophysical Research Letters, 42, 5364-5371 DOI: 10.1002/2015GL064359

41. Outten, S., Thorne, P., Bethke, I., Seland, Ø. (2015): Investigating the recent apparent hiatus in surface temperature increases: 1. Construc-tion of two 30-member Earth System Model ensembles. Journal of Geophysical Research, 120, 17, 8575-8596, DOI: 10.1002/2015JD023859

42. Park, J-Y, Bader, J., Matei, D. (2015): Northern-hemispheric differential warming is the key to understanding the discrepancies in the project-ed Sahel rainfall. Nature Communications, 6, doi:10.1038/ncomms6985

43. Reeve, M.A., Syed, M.A, Spengler, T., Spinney, J.A., Hossain, R. (2015): Complementing scientific monsoon definitions with social perception in Bangladesh. Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society, 96, 49-57. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00144.1

44. Renssen, H., Mairesse, A., Goosse, H., Mathiot, P., Heiri, O., Roche, D.M., Nisancioglu, K.H., Valdes, P.J. (2015): Multiple causes of the Younger Dryas cold period. Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/ngeo2557

Selected publications

Annual report Bjerknes Centre 201538 39Doctoral Dissertations

Doctoral Dissertations 2015In 2015, BCCR scientists provided supervision and training in climate research to 50 PhD candidates. The following defended their dissertations:

June 24. 2015Giulio Nils Caroletti GFI, University of Bergen A linear model for orographic precipitation in meteorological and climatological downscaling. “In my thesis I used a simplified but physically robust model for orographic precipitation to test for future climate scenarios, which proved to be an important tool for applications such as assessments of future extremes in precipitation”.

March 26. 2015Vivian Astrup FeldeUni Research Quantifying modern pollen–vegetation–diversity relationships: an assessment of methods to reconstruct past terrestrial biodiversity. “By studying modern plant–pollen diversity relationships, the main objective of this thesis was to find a method to improve estimates of past plant richness and diversity from fossil pollen data”.

March 20. 2015Erlend M. Knudsen GFI, University of Bergen

Linking northern high-latitude cryospheric changes to large-scale atmospheric circulation.“My research analysed the impact melting Arctic sea ice and Greenland land ice have on atmospheric circulation, and vice-versa, in mid- and high-latitudes”.

February 13. 2015Mathew Stiller-ReeveUni Research

Monsoon onset in Bangladesh: Reconciling scientific and societal perspectives. “This project identified areas where science and local perception might disagree about the monsoon onset in Bangladesh. Statistical methods were then put forward to compare these two sources of knowledge”.

April 24. 2015Silje Sund SørlandGFI, University of Bergen

Monsoon low-pressure systems - the precipi-tation response to atmospheric warming. “The research aimed at understanding how the precipitation associated with monsoon low-pressure systems may change in a warming world. I could show that, in a warmer and more humid atmosphere, there is more precipitation associated with the low-pressure systems, and the precipitation is more intense. Low-pressure systems are also able to release more precipitation further into the Indian continent.”

January 15. 2015Clemens SpensbergerGFI, University of Bergen

New approaches to investigate the influence of orographic and dynamic blocking on large-scale atmospheric flow. “I developed several new methods to analyse air movement around large obstacles, e.g. mountain ranges and stationary blocking high-pressure systems. These methods are important to understand the North Atlantic storm track, which is strongly influenced by the massive ice sheet of Greenland and frequently features blocking highs over Europe and Scandinavia”.

May 22. 2015Amandine A. Tisserand Uni Research Calibration, validation and application of foraminiferal Mg/Ca - Reconstructing the intermediate water masses structure and origin in the Western Tropical Atlantic.“My research analysed the impact melting Arctic sea ice and Greenland land ice have on atmospheric circulation, and vice-versa, in mid- and high-latitudes”.

45. Røthe, T. O., Bakke, J., Vasskog, K., Gjerde, M., D’Andrea, W. J., Bradley, R. S. (2015): Arctic Holocene glacier fluctuations reconstructed from lake sediments at Mitrahalvøya, Spitsbergen. Quaternary Science Reviews, 109, 111-125. doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.11.017

46. Schemm, S., Sprenger, M. (2015): Frontal-wave cyclogenesis in the North Atlantic - a climatological characterization. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, doi:10.1002/qj.2584

47. Simon, M. H., Gong, X., Hall, I.R., Ziegler, M., Barker, S., Knorr, G.,van der Meer, M.T.J., Kasper, S.,Schouten, S. (2015): Salt exchange in the Indian-Atlantic Ocean Gateway since the Last Glacial Maximum: A compensating effect between Agulhas Current changes and salinity variations? Paleoceanography, 30, doi:10.1002/2015PA002842

48. Skagseth, Ø., Slotte, A., Stenevik, E.K. and Nash, R.D.M. (2015): Characteristics of the Norwegian Coastal Current during years with high recruitment of Norwegian spring spawning herring (Clupea harengus L.). PLOS ONE, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144117

49. Suo, L., Gao, Y., Guo, D., Liu, J., Wang, H., Johannessen, O. M. (2015): Atmospheric response to the autumn sea-ice free Arctic and its detect-ability. Climate Dynamics, 6, 1-16. doi:10.1007/s00382-015-2689-8

50. Svendsen, J.I., Briner, J.P., Mangerud, J., Young, N.E. (2015): Early break-up of the Norwegian Channel Ice Stream during the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews, 107, 232-242. Doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.11.001

51. Sørland, S., Sorteberg, A. (2015): The dynamic and thermodynamic structure of monsoon low-pressure systems during extreme rainfall events. Tellus A, 67, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v67.27039

52. Terpstra, A., Spengler, T., Moore, R. (2015): Idealised simulations of polar low development in an Arctic moist-baroclinic environment. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 141, 1987-1996. doi: 10.1002/qj.2507

53. Tjiputra, J.F., A. Grini, Lee, H. (2015): Impact of idealized future stratospheric aerosol injection on the large-scale ocean and land carbon cycles. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences, 120, doi:10.1002/2015JG003045.

54. Våge, K., Moore, G.W.K, Jónsson, S., Valdimarsson, H. (2015): Water mass transformation in the Iceland Sea. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 101, 98–109, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2015.04.001

55. van der Bilt, W.G.M, Bakke, J., Vasskog, K., D’Andrea, W.J., Bradley, R.S, Ólafsdóttir, S. (2015): Reconstruction of glacier variability from lake sediments reveals dynamic Holocene climate in Svalbard. Quaternary Science Reviews, 126, 201-218, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quasci-rev.2015.09.003.

56. Vasskog, K , Langebroek P.M., Andrews, J.T., Nilsen, J.E.Ø., Nesje, A. (2015):The Greenland Ice Sheet during the last glacial cycle: Current ice loss and contribution to sea-level rise from a palaeoclimatic perspective. Earth- Science Reviews, 150, 45-67, doi:10.1016/j.earsci-rev.2015.07.006

57. Viste, E., Sorteberg, A. (2015): Snowfall in the Himalayas: an uncertain future from a little-known past. The Cryosphere, 9, 1147-1167, 2015. doi: 10.5194/tc-9-1147-2015

58. Wang, Y., Counillon, F., Bertino, L. (2015): Alleviating the bias induced by the linear analysis update with an isopycnal ocean model. Quar-terly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, DOI: 10.1002/qj.2709

BCCR – Bjerknes Centrefor Climate Research

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A professor on a rockJohn Inge Svendsen, professor at the Department of Earth Science, UiB and the Bjerknes Centre, collects samples for beryllium-10 exposure dating on Ulriken, the famous “city mountain” of Bergen. The purpose is to determine when the summit first protruded through the ice surface at the end of the last ice age.PHOTO: JAN MANGERUD

The inversion layerDuring clear and calm winter days we can get so-called temperature inversions in the Bergen valley. In such an inversion, the air temperature increases with height – opposite to the normal situation with decreasing air temperature with height. Because colder air is denser than warm air, this suppresses the exchange of air near the ground. Air pollutants emitted in the city centre are therefore accumulated over time, leading to poor air quality there, while the warmer air around the mountain tops remains pristine. The photographer, Tobias Wolf, PhD candidate at the Nansen Centre and Bjerknes Centre is studying the conditions for the inversion layer in Bergen.PHOTO: TOBIAS WOLF

Gathering shells in the Nordic SeasDuring the Ice2Ice cruise summer 2015, Margit Simon (left) and Bjørg Risebrobakken, both researchers at Uni Research and the Bjerknes Centre, collected samples of ocean quahogs (Arctica islandica). The photographer Carin Andersson Dahl and her master’s student are currently working on these shells to get high-resolution paleodata from the Irminger Current, which brings warm Atlantic water northwards along the west coast of Iceland.PHOTO: CARIN ANDERSSON DAHL

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2015 - bjerknes centre for climate research · reduce climate change, and a concrete implementation...

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