News about Climate

New documentation: Old-growth forest carbon sinks overestimated

The claim that old-growth forests play a significant role in climate mitigation, based upon the argument that even the oldest forests keep sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere, is being refuted by researchers at the…

Ruth Julia Ladwig

Community Earth System Model climate under Last Glacial Maximum boundary conditions

Researchers discover intact plant fossils beneath Greenland’s ice sheet for the first time

For the first time ever, researchers have found fossils under Greenland's ice sheet that are so large and well preserved that they can be seen with the naked eye. The fossils reveal several million years of details abou…

An epic walk: 15 million years needed for dinosaurs to get from South America to Greenland

For the first time, two researchers—one from the University of Copenhagen and the other from Columbia University—have accurately dated the arrival of the first herbivorous dinosaurs in East Greenland. Their results…

Prominent professor named as Head of Scientific Research at Denmark’s National Centre for Climate Research

Floods, cloudbursts, heatwaves; the climate of the future will be more extreme. On assuming the position of Head of Scientific Research at the National Centre for Climate Research at DMI on 1 March 2021, renowned…

Claus Thustrup Kreiner and Peter Birch Sørensen in new expert committee

A Danish expert group to determine the framework for a uniform CO2e tax has now been set up. Department of Economics take 2 of the 6 seats in the expert proup.

Arctic permafrost releases more CO2 than once believed

There may be greater CO2 emissions associated with thawing Arctic permafrost than ever imagined. An international team of researchers, including one from the University of Copenhagen, has discovered that soil bacteria…

Misguided sense of balance exacerbates climate scepticism

Many of us may have inadvertently contributed to the growing climate scepticism of recent years, a widespread phenomenon fuelled by “system errors” built into journalism, social media and parliamentary debates. A new…

Wood formation can now be followed in real-time - and possibly serve the climate and builders of tomorrow

A genetic engineering method makes it possible to observe how woody cell walls are built in plants. The new research in wood formation, conducted by the University of Copenhagen and others, opens up the possibility of…

Ella Jacobsen

Analysis of spatiotemporal patterns of plastics in the Baltic Sea

A bucket of water can reveal climate change impacts on marine life in the Arctic

We know very little about marine life in the Arctic. Now researchers from the University of Copenhagen, among others, are trying to change that. They have shown that a simple water sample makes it possible to monitor th…

David Aaron Soestmeyer

Local temperature reconstruction from gas trapping processes in the Dye 3 ice core from Greenland

Your organic waste will be upcycled to fertilise fields

Researchers behind a major EU project will develop technologies that make it easier to convert organic waste in our compostable trash bags into fertiliser. UCPH researcher says that agriculture sector needs to tackle…

We want people to choose green

A call for applications sparked off a conversation around the dining table in a dorm, which quickly turned into a brainstorm on how to make a difference in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Droughts, viruses and road networks: Trends that will impact our forests

A new UCPH study assembled an array of experts to highlight major trends that will impact the world's forests, and the people living around them, in the decade ahead. These trends include drought, viral outbreaks and…

Lara Möllney

Patterns of Dust-borne Iron Fertilization at the Last Glacial Maximum

Kids, insects and food: Mealworms beat grasshoppers

Insects are a sustainable, climate-friendly food source. But what will it take for us to begin eating them? 188 Danish 11- and 12-year-old children have rolled and eaten their own mealworm and grasshopper fortified…

Old goosefoot can become Denmark´s new source of protein

Iron Age inhabitants of modern-day Denmark once foraged White Goosefoot, a plant related closely to today’s superstar among superfoods — quinoa. In the thousands of years since, goosefoot has gone from favourable forage…

Ann-Sofie Priergaard Zinck

Surface velocity and ice thickness of the Müller ice cap, Axel Heiberg Island

The climate changed rapidly alongside sea ice decline in the north

This scientific breakthrough concludes a long-lasting debate on the mechanisms causing abrupt climate change during the glacial period. It also documents that the cause of the swiftness and extent of sudden climate…

Project will create new narratives about open landscapes

With support from THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS, a major research project will address land use change in Danish agricultural sector by working with local narratives about the open landscape.

New flood validation data collected in Adenta and Legon

Richard and Allotey collected additional data for evaluation of the local flood models in Adenta, Legon and Okponglo. Click to see maps and photos from the survey locations.

Satellite images confirm uneven impact of climate change

University of Copenhagen researchers have been following vegetation trends across the planet's driest areas using satellite imagery from recent decades. They have identified a troubling trend: Too little vegetation is…

Report: In retrospect, the burning of wood in district heating plants has resulted in climate savings

A new report from the University of Copenhagen shows that the burning of wood is significantly more climate friendly than coal and slightly more climate friendly than natural gas over the long run. For the first time,…