Photo: Kerim Hestnes Nisancioglu
During the period 10-22. September 25 students and 10 lecturers travelled to Rondvassbu in Norway to join this years Advanced Climate Dynamics Courses (ACDC).
The purpose of the summer school was to explore the role of the seasonal cycle in the climate system. Lectures explained the role of the seasonal cycle in the ocean, atmosphere, land and ice and gave insights into cutting edge research questions exploring how the seasonal cycle can be used as a tool to understand climate change.
In between lectures, students worked on group projects. These projects gave the students hands on experience in the analysis of models, observations and proxy records with a focus on better understanding the seasonal cycle across time scales.
A two-day field excursion gave everyone an excellent opportunity to explore the beautiful nature of Rondane National Park. Hikes to interesting geological sites included engaging discussions on the processes that shaped the local landscape over the past thousand to several hundred thousand years.
Outreach activities were also a part of the school. The students got a chance to share their newly achieved knowledge with the local community. Two high school classes came to visit and they learned more about life as a scientist and how tree rings can be used to reconstruct past climate variability.
Overall the ACDC has been a fantastic experience with exiting lectures and plenty of opportunities for networking, discussion and development of new research ideas. Not only did we learn the power of the seasonal cycle, the largest climate change of our time, we also experienced it first hand as we were surprised by a snow storm in the second week of the “summer” school.
Anne-Katrine Faber