An Eco-Dimona aircraft flying a survey for Airborne Research Australia (image courtesy of Diamond Aircraft Canada)

Edinburgh Universities collaborate on responses to climate change

School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh - www.geos.ed.ac.uk

Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh is home to a thriving research community in the earth and environmental sciences. Edinburgh's research institutes focus on understanding the Earth as a dynamic system to inform responses to global climate change.

Our newest partnership: geological carbon storage
The challenge of climate change requires innovative approaches to CO2 management. The University of Edinburgh and Heriot Watt University have joined with the British Geological Survey in a partnership for research into subsurface carbon sequestration.

The partnership, called SCCS - the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage Research - aims to make Edinburgh a Centre of Excellence for research and development in CO2 capture and sequestration. SCCS will develop geological research and geo-engineering technologies for subsurface storage which will reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.

Understanding and responding to climate change: a multipartner approach
The SCCS partnership is one of several joint initiatives in climate research at the University of Edinburgh. Our work with UK, European and international organisations ranges from individual consultancy to global projects. Our research is multi-disciplinary, encompassing study of the oceans, land surface, terrestrial ecosystems and atmosphere, and their interactions with society. We measure the dynamic Earth system, design new remote sensing approaches, analyse past environmental change and develop predictive models. We use these results to inform policy and practice for environmental sustainability.

Investigating the problem: aircraft and satellite measurements
As a member of the CarboEurope consortium, we are mapping and monitoring atmospheric CO2 and other trace gas exchanges in terrestrial environments. Such information is essential for understanding the global cycles that drive climate change. It is also a prerequisite for decisions regarding climate change mitigation strategies, such as carbon sequestration and carbon credit payments.

We have recently purchased our own aircraft to investigate the lower atmosphere and its interactions with the terrestrial surface. The Eco- Dimona aircraft will enable us to make airborne measurements of atmospheric composition and to acquire multi-spectral images of the Earth's surface. The University of Edinburgh's aircraft is one of only two of its type in Europe. We will use it in collaboration with a range of partners to investigate climate change.

Remotely-sensed data collected by satellite platforms play a crucial role in providing large-scale observations of processes that affect climate change, such as atmospheric fluxes of CO2. Edinburgh works in close collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which has developed instruments that allow us to determine the distribution of trace gases in the upper troposphere.

The interaction of oceans and atmosphere is also studied using remotely-sensed data. We work with meteorological agencies worldwide to develop sophisticated methods for estimating ocean surface temperatures from satellite infra-red imagery, while avoiding contamination by clouds or atmospheric aerosols. We aim to achieve sufficiently accurate observations of global surface temperatures to evaluate better the rate of current climate change.

Extreme climatic events and flooding present complex challenges to the international community

Forecasting change: modelling complex systems
Ocean-atmosphere interactions profoundly affect how climate will evolve. To understand these interactions on global scales requires modelling. As partners in CASIX, the UK Centre for air-sea interactions, we are modelling exchanges across the air-sea interface. By focusing on sensitivity to smallscale variability, we have corrected significant errors in previous estimates of air-sea exchange of CO2.

Biogeochemical processes within the oceans also impact on atmospheric CO2. With international collaborators we are reconstructing past changes in sediment and nutrient cycling to understand how these processes affect storage of carbon in the oceans.

To fully understand climate change, we need to look beyond CO2 to a wider range of climate forcing agents. In collaboration with the UK Meteorological Office and others, we are developing complex models that couple climate and atmospheric chemistry. We use these models to understand the present-day atmosphere, and attempt to forecast the future.

We also model other parts of the Earth system. With other European universities we are developing an advanced ice-sheet model to interface with global climate models. Our work on corals provides insights into the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, a significant factor in short-term climate variability. By reducing uncertainties, these results will assist in policy formulation.

Evaluating scientific evidence: informing policy responses
Climate change poses complex challenges for society that must be met in an environmentally, technically, socially and economically sustainable way. At the University's Centre for Environmental Change and Sustainability we undertake research on climate change impacts, adaptation strategies, mitigation options and sustainable development.

This includes rigorous and impartial evaluation of scientific evidence to support policy development. The Centre has led projects for local and national government, NGOs and the World Bank and is supporting initiatives of NEPAD, the New Partnership for Africa's Development. As part of the UK Energy Research Centre we are investigating the environmental sustainability of renewable energy technologies and sub-surface CO2 sequestration.

Through our interdisciplinary perspective and partnership approach we provide key scientific evidence and an effective understanding of sustainable responses to climate change.

For more information: sccs@geos.ed.ac.uk