C2SM News

Weather services and media outlets are issuing urgent warnings that a super El Niño is set to intensify extreme weather worldwide. Are the consequences really so serious? Climate physicist Nicolas Gruber puts the situation into perspective and explains what it could mean for Switzerland.          

With the official launch of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) CLIM+, researchers, public authorities, businesses and organisations are joining forces to strengthen Switzerland's resilience to climate extremes. Co-led by ETH Zurich and the University of Bern, the NCCR combines climate research with practical solutions for society, the economy and policymaking.

AI models are playing an increasingly important role in weather forecasting and the early detection of natural hazards. Training these models requires vast amounts of climate and Earth observation data. Over the past few months, ETH Zurich has therefore copied openly available datasets from NASA to the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano.

Climate change is causing shifts in the regional distribution of animal and plant species: Species unable to tolerate the heat, migrate to cooler regions or die out. In cities, this risk is often underestimated. In the absence of more precise data, it is often calculated using regional climate data, which do not take into account the impact of urban heat islands. A new modelling approach enables significantly more reliable predictions and, consequently, more targeted countermeasures.

The project ends, but its tools, insights, and partnerships continue to grow.