This presentation was given by Prof Herman Russchenberg, director of TU Delft Climate Institute, at the kick-off meeting on March 1st 2012. It describes background, aims and goals of the new institute.

1. 30-1-2015
Challenge the future
Delft
University of
Technology
TU Delft Climate Institute
overview
Herman Russchenberg

2. 2Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
Global warming
Video op http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHZzACcYJRo

3. 3Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
Global warming: past and future?
high
low
Levelofunderstanding
Warming effectCooling effect
1750-2005

4. 4Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
Forcings, feedbacks, consequences
Weather
Sea level
Public health
Agriculture
Infrastructures
Safety
Food
Economy
e.g. greenhouse gases, aerosols
e.g. water vapour, melted ice,clouds
e.g. clouds

5. 5Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
Global warming: state of the art (1)

6. 6Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
DirectwarmingduetoCO2
Responseoftheearth
Additionalwarming
Global warming: state of the art (2)

7. 7Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
Uncertainties
Understanding
• Sub-grid processes
• Long term observations
• Feedbacks and forcings
Consequences
• Mitigation
• Adaptation

8. 8Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
TU Delft Climate Institute
Focus
• Observation of climate-relevant geo-physical parameters: needs,
methods and technologies
• Understanding of climate-relevant geo-physical processes:
experiment, modeling, parameterization and simulation
• Policy, adaptation and mitigation models and methods based on
climate knowledge.

9. 9Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
Faculty Disciplines
Aerospace Engineering earth system observation, climate-related satellite missions, data
retrieval, validation & calibration, atmospheric observatories, mass
transport, sea level
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and
Computer Science
sensor technology, (interactive) visualization, data bases,
computational mathematics, modeling, data assimilation
Civil Engineering and Geophysics water management, hydrology, earth and atmospheric science,
earth observation, fluid dynamics, geology
Applied Physics aerosol physics, bio-technology, multi-scale physics, space
technology
Mechanical and Maritime Engineering Fluid dynamics, air quality
Architecture climate-adaptive architecture, climate resilient cities, geomatics
Technology, Policy and Management complex systems, climate ethics, climate policy
The Delft landscape

10. 10Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
Governance structure and collaborations
• Campus network organization, hosted by the Department
Geosciences and Remote Sensing
• Small progam office
3TU Data Centre
• Since many activities will deal with observation, simulations
and data, close collaboration with the 3TU Data Centre is
foreseen.

11. 11Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
TU Delft Climate Institute
activities
• Initiate joint, inter-facultary research programs with national
and international partners
• Define national observation/infrastructure programs
• Deploy academic activities like seminars, workshops, debates,
lecture series
• Invite renowned guest scientists for a stay at Delft

12. 12Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
2012 themes
• Extreme weather and the city
• Clouds, aerosols and radiation
• Mass transport and sea level rise
• Climate information and policy

13. 13Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
Program for today
14:00 – 16:30 Scientific Programme
14:00 – 15:15 Presentations on selected themes of the TU Delft Climate Institute:
 Prof. Herman Russchenberg – Overview TU Delft Climate Institute
 Dr. Marie Claire ten Veldhuis – Extreme weather and the city
 Prof. Harm Jonker – Clouds and climate
 Dr. Bert Vermeersen –Sea level rise
 Dr. Andrew Bollinger – Climate policy
15:15 – 15:30 Coffee break
15:30 – 16:30 Panel discussion: Challenges in climate science and policy
 Dr. Appy Sluijs (Utrecht University)
 Prof. Bram Bregman (Radboud University, KNMI)
 Prof. Bart van den Hurk (IMAU, KNMI)

14. 14Opening TUDelft Climate Institute
Panel discussion
• How anthropogenic is global warming?
• Which topic should have the highest priority in climate research?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of climate research in
The Netherlands?
• Is energy policy the same as climate policy?
• How should the scientific community participate in the public
debate?