Photo of the 7th eScience course at Kristineberg Marine Centre in Sweden (May 2024)
The 7th edition of the international course “Data Analysis and Model Evaluation Tools in Environmental and Climate Science”, or in short the eScience course, was back in action 6-16 May 2024 at the Kristineberg Marine Research Station in Sweden. This course, co-organized by Stockholm University and the University of Oslo, brought together 21 students, 7 teaching assistants, 1 research software engineer, 2 organizers and many invited lecturers, altogether from countries across the globe such as Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovenia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, China, India, the US and Romania. These ten intensive days consisted of lectures on the climate system, discussions on coding best practices and reflections on science ethics, combined with group projects on climate data analysis using Python. The days spent together were an incredible way for students at the Masters and PhD level to expand their knowledge and skills, to build an international network, and to enjoy the beautiful nature of the Swedish West Coast. All of this in a relaxed and fun, yet hard-working atmosphere.
The group projects covered many areas of the climate sciences, including perturbed parameter ensembles to better predict the role of aerosols in climate models, the analysis of cloud regimes in global models and satellite observations, aerosols and their interactions with clouds in the high Arctic, as well as high-latitude fire dynamics. Despite the relatively short duration of the course, all the groups managed to gain first valuable insights and even some novel scientific results leading to interesting discussions and bringing new research questions to light.
Undoubtedly, the long working days, the ping pong tournaments, the epic boat trips and the long discussions at night generated friendships and created a firm basis for future fruitful scientific collaborations. And – there will be a next year’s course!
This year, the course was co-sponsored by the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, CHESS (Research school on changing climates in the coupled earth system), BRACE-MY (Boosting ReseArch CapabilitiEs of Romanian Cloud MicrophYsics Centre), Stockholm University and the University of Oslo, as well as the H2020 project CRiceS (Climate Relevant interactions and feedbacks: the key role of sea ice and Snow in the polar and global climate system).
The next couse will take place in May 2025. More details can be found on our course website: https://www.su.se/department-of-environmental-science/education/courses-and-programmes/data-analysis-and-model-evaluation-tools-in-environmental-and-climate-science-1.697544?eventopenforinternationalstudents=true¬forcedreason=0&q=&xpanded=
Text and photo: Michael Schulz / MET