Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC)

RESEARCH

Research Theme

University

Stellenbosch University

2022-01-17Climate change: are fishes migrating to colder waters?

Are fish species adapting to warmer waters or moving to cooler areas? The answer poses major impacts in climate change adaptation, especially in areas identified as particularly vulnerable to climate change, by affecting local and regional fishing industries, food security and socio-economic stability. An international team of scientists from the Department of Botany and Zoology at Stellenbosch University and other institutes have teamed up with stakeholders in their respective regions to identify challenges facing fishing industries under climate change. On a global scale, research suggests that marine fishes are shifting their distribution ranges towards the poles, or into deeper waters, in order to escape ongoing climate change and warming oceans. Estimates suggest that fishes are shifting their range at a rate of about 31 kilometres per decade, while demersal species shift their distribution by going to deeper waters at a rate of 3.3 meter per decade.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2022-01-17Climate modeling confirms historical records showing rise in hurricane activity

For all who have doubts about using the storm records from the 1850s to prove a rising hurricane activity alongside global warming, it is too soon to contradict the conclusion. A new study by scientists from the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences has observed “unequivocal increases” in North Atlantic hurricane activity through the modern technique of climate modelling. By embedding a hurricane model into a climate model which combines observations from the past with climate simulations to generate accurate reconstructions of past weather patterns and climate conditions, the scientists were able to simulate tropical cyclones around the world over the past 150 years while avoiding artificial trends brought by the progress of observation skills over time. The study also found that despite an increase in North Atlantic hurricane activity, there’s no significant change globally. Even for the North Atlantic area, how global warming will affect its future hurricanes activity is still a mystery.

Columbia University

2022-01-17Oceans Could Be Harnessed to Remove Carbon From Air, Say U.S. Science Leaders

“All of the land-based approaches have limitations, so it’s important to evaluate the possibility of also using the oceans,” said Romany Webb, a senior fellow and associate research scholar at Columbia University in the City of New York and co-author of the report on A Research Strategy for Ocean-based Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration. Conducted by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the report recommended a $125 million research program to better understand the technological challenges, potential economic and social impacts and proposed six basic approaches: Nutrient Fertilization Seaweed Cultivation Ecosystem Recovery Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Electrochemical Processes Artificial Upwelling and Downwelling

University of Oxford

2022-01-17Tracking endangered sea turtles with hardware the size of a pound coin

Oxford Researchers have developed ‘SnapperGPS’, a low-cost, low-power wildlife tracking system that can run for more than 10 years for less than $30. Location tracking devices are an important tool for biologists to study animal behaviour, informing conservation policy decisions and preventing human-wildlife conflicts. However, existing technologies are often expensive and come with heavy batteries, prohibiting studies with many animals. By employing the concept of snapshot GNSS, the SnapperGPS is able to reduce the signal acquisition and processing on the device and locate the receiver with a few milliseconds of the signal. This year, 9 out of 20 tags deployed on endangered loggerhead sea turtles in Cape Verde were recovered, capturing unexpectedly diverse behaviour among turtles.

Imperial College London

2022-01-17Study of Antarctic ice’s deep past shows it could be more vulnerable to warming

The past is an important window in informing the future. The International Ocean Discovery Program, led by Imperial College London scientists, drilled into sediments in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, to examine its ice sheets during the Early Miocene, around 18-16 million years ago, and found that sea level rose by up to 60 metres during warmer periods, the equivalent of melting all the ice currently on the Antarctic continent. However, some questions remain uncertain, such as: ❓ The contributions of the larger East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) and the smaller West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) to past sea-level rise； ❓ Where the tipping point of no return for the low-lying areas of the ice sheet lies.

Yale University

2022-01-172021 was a remarkable year for Earth’s climate

Before the bell strikes 12 o’clock to the new year of 2022, let’s look back at the notable climate events in 2021. It is a year where extreme weather phenomena took place throughout the year, and where international climate actions progressed. We are looking forward to more collective actions from our member universities in 2022.

Yale University

2022-01-17How to talk about climate change: Ask questions

The latest national survey on Climate Change in the American Mind, conducted by Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that Americans who think global warming is happening outnumber those who think it is not by a ratio of more than 4:1. However, in the United States, and around the world, conversation and discussions on the topic are rare to hear in our daily life. As a matter of fact, “Talk” is the fertile field in which cultural change begins. How to initiate the conversation successfully, while avoiding getting your head in a bag as PhD candidate Dibiasky get herself into in the #dontlookupmovie?

University of California Berkeley

2022-01-17Microbes provide sustainable hydrocarbons for petrochemical industry

If the petrochemical industry is ever to wean itself off oil and gas, it has to find sustainably-sourced chemicals that slip effortlessly into existing processes for making products such as fuels, lubricants and plastics. Researchers from UC Berkeley and the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers have developed a chemical technology that combines fermentation and chemical refining to produce petroleum-like liquids from renewable plants.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2021-9-8 MIT-designed project achieves major advance toward fusion energy

On Sept. 5, for the first time, a large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet was ramped up to a field strength of 20 tesla, the most powerful magnetic field of its kind ever created on Earth.

Australian National University

2021-9-13 Ultra-efficient tech to forge sustainable energy future

Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have developed a system to transport data using atomically-thin semiconductors in an extremely energy efficient way.

The University of Tokyo

2021-9-10 Fostering Advanced Human Resources to Lead Green Transformation (GX)

The project (SPRING GX) aims to produce globally competent researchers who will contribute to realizing a Green Transformation (GX)* in all fields on a large scale (about 600 people enrolled in a doctoral program).

Tsinghua University

2021-8-5 1Methane Emission Measurement and Reduction in the Energy Sector

Methane is the second largest greenhouse gas (GHG) after carbon dioxide (CO2). The global warming potential of methane is around 84-87 times greater than that of CO2 in a 20-year period, and 28-36 times higher than that of CO2 over a 100-year time frame. Methane is also the second largest greenhouse

University of Oxford

2021-8-5 1The Final 25%: How to tackle hard-to-reach emissions

The world is in a climate crisis, and Oxford researchers are at the forefront of trying to find solutions in adaptation and resilience, nature, energy transition, clean road transport and green finance.

University of Cambridge

2021-8-30 Cambridge-authored book explores how artificial intelligence could help address climate change

Humanity is facing two existential threats. The first: uncontrolled CO2 emissions irreversibly changing the climate. The second: a hostile artificial intelligence (AI) becoming the dominant form of intelligence on Earth. But while the situation may appear bleak, this two-pronged crisis also presents an opportunity.

Yale University

2021-8-23 The Social Cost of Carbon is Still the Best Way to Evaluate Climate Policy

Professor of Economics Matthew Kotchen argues that the social cost of carbon, which accounts for the future damage that atmospheric carbon causes, is preferable to an alternative approach put forward by two prominent economists

Members

On Sept. 5, for the first time, a large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet was ramped up to a field strength of 20 tesla, the most powerful magnetic field of its kind ever created on Earth.

Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have developed a system to transport data using atomically-thin semiconductors in an extremely energy efficient way.

The project (SPRING GX) aims to produce globally competent researchers who will contribute to realizing a Green Transformation (GX)* in all fields on a large scale (about 600 people enrolled in a doctoral program).

Methane is the second largest greenhouse gas (GHG) after carbon dioxide (CO2). The global warming potential of methane is around 84-87 times greater than that of CO2 in a 20-year period, and 28-36 times higher than that of CO2 over a 100-year time frame. Methane is also the second largest greenhouse

The world is in a climate crisis, and Oxford researchers are at the forefront of trying to find solutions in adaptation and resilience, nature, energy transition, clean road transport and green finance.

Professor of Economics Matthew Kotchen argues that the social cost of carbon, which accounts for the future damage that atmospheric carbon causes, is preferable to an alternative approach put forward by two prominent economists

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