Contact us|Help|Site Map|Search

• Home
• About Us
• Funding
• Our Research
• Working with business

• Careers
• Publications
• Press
• Events

RAPID climate change conference

19 October 2006

It's October and yet Britain's beaches are still packed with people. The world's glaciers are melting as global warming takes hold.

The news is currently full of such stories - so do the scientists think will we be facing a time of rapid climate change in the near future? By the end of this century could Europe's climate be very different to today, and how will society need to change?

The Natural Environment Research Council has invested £20m in its RAPID programme, which aims to investigate and understand the causes of rapid climate change. Early results have indicated that a major reorganisation of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation - the system of currents that move warm water northwards - may already be underway, arousing worldwide interest and debate.

The conference in Birmingham next week explores current scientific understanding of rapid climate change, with a sharp focus on the role of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and its impacts on weather, climate and society. The conference will also showcase emerging results from the RAPID programme.

The conference speakers will present four themes, taking delegates through the ways that past climate records can tell us about rapid changes, what is happening now and how this information can be used to predict what will happen in the coming decades. They will debate the risks and challenges for future generations in tackling the uncertainties of the climate system.

The keynote address will be delivered by Sir David King, the government's chief scientific advisor, on day two of the conference. Sir David will discuss the current state of climate change science, the global temperature rise and carbon dioxide emissions, the UK's goal for a 60% decrease by 2050, and the impacts on civilisation.

Cape Farewell, a charitable organisation that brings together artists, scientists and educators in raising awareness of climate change, will also be at the conference. They will present 'The art of climate change' in words and images, including a video of an ice wall collapsing into the Arctic Ocean.

Further information

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Sasha Leigh has left NERC.
Please contact the NERC web team to update this page.

Notes

1. Journalists are invited to attend all or part of the RAPID climate change conference. There will be an opportunity to interview Sir David King and many of the other speakers on 25 October. Please register if you plan to attend by contacting the NERC press office.

2. To arrange interviews with Sir David King please contact Alexandra Thompson in the Department of Trade & Industry press office, Tel: 0207 215 6140. All other interviews can be arranged through the NERC press office.

3. Further details about the RAPID programme and the full conference schedule can be found on the RAPID pages of the NOCS website.

4. The conference will be held at the Holiday Inn, Birmingham City Centre, Smallbrook, Queensway (close to New Street Station), 24 - 27 October 2006. Registration opens at 11:00 on 24 October and the conference starts at 14:00.

Press release: 62/06

Search