Second Assessment of Climate Change for the Baltic Sea Basin

This chapter compiles and assesses information on run-off and discharge from rivers within the Baltic Sea drainage basin. Some information is also available on ice duration on inland waterways. Although decadal and regional variability is large, no significant long-term change has been detected in total river run-off to the Baltic Sea over the past 500 years. A change in the timing of the spring flood has been observed due to changes in the timing of snowmelt. Change in temperature seems to explain change in run-off better than does precipitation. Later start dates for ice formation on waterways, and earlier ice break-up dates have resulted in shorter periods of ice cover.</div

Understanding Flood Regime Changes in Europe: a state-of-the-art assessment

There is growing concern that flooding is becoming more frequent and severe in Europe. A better understanding of flood regime changes and their drivers is therefore needed. The paper reviews the current knowledge on flood regime changes in European rivers that has traditionally been obtained through two alternative research approaches. The first approach is the data-based detection of changes in observed flood events. Current methods are reviewed together with their challenges and opportunities. For example, observation biases, the merging of different data sources and accounting for nonlinear drivers and responses. The second approach consists of modelled scenarios of future floods. Challenges and opportunities associated with flood change scenarios are discussed such as fully accounting for uncertainties in the modelling cascade and feedbacks. To make progress in flood change research, we suggest that a synthesis of these two approaches is needed. This can be achieved by focusing on long duration records and flood-rich and flood-poor periods rather than on short duration flood trends only, by formally attributing causes of observed flood changes, by validating scenarios against observed flood regime dynamics, and by developing low-dimensional models of flood changes and feedbacks. The paper finishes with a call for a joint European flood change research network

Fostering Graduates’ Critical Thinking with University-Business Collaboration: The Think4Jobs Project

Literature highlights a lack of Higher Education curricula that promotes graduates’ soft skills. Critical Thinking (CT) is considered one of the soft skills associated with higher employment levels. The European-funded project “Critical Thinking for Successful Jobs” (Think4Jobs), currently in progress, aims at strengthening the collaboration between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Labor Market Organizations (LMOs) to design, develop, implement and evaluate CT blended apprenticeships curricula in five disciplines (i.e., Veterinary Medicine, Teacher Education, Business and Economics, Business Informatics, English as a Foreign Language). The curricula are implemented for apprenticeships. We aim to summarize the findings and milestones achieved so far in the project. First, a focus group approach, document analysis, and observation of CT instruction in HEI and LMOs were conducted to assess the state of the art of CT teaching in HEI and the needs of the stakeholders (i.e., HE and LMO) regarding the instruction of CT in HEI apprenticeships and LMO internships. Our results revealed that there is not necessarily a “gap” between HEIs and LMOs concerning CT instruction but rather a difference in understanding and a need to develop a common language between stakeholders. Therefore, as the next step, intensive training for HE instructors and LMO tutors was conducted to establish a common understanding of CT. The results showed no statistical differences in participants’ conceptual understanding of CT, but still drew attention to several misconceptions. Finally, the CT blended apprenticeships curricula were designed as a byproduct of the University-Business Collaboration. Currently, the implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness of the CT blended apprenticeships curricula are carried out. Research Contribution: Our research within the project is deemed a relative interface that links HEIs and LMOs to establish a sustainable collaboration for developing graduates’ CT

Frictionless flow.

Superfluid helium-3 is one of the most exotic and most inaccessible materials on Earth. It is also one of the most interesting - albeit, at least for present technological applications, also seemingly one of the most useless

Inter-comparison of statistical downscaling methods for projection of extreme flow indices across Europe

The effect of methods of statistical downscaling of daily precipitation on changes in extreme flow indices under a plausible future climate change scenario was investigated in 11 catchments selected from 9 countries in different parts of Europe. The catchments vary from 67 to 6171 km2 in size and cover different climate zones. 15 regional climate model outputs and 8 different statistical downscaling methods, which are broadly categorized as change factor and bias correction based methods, were used for the comparative analyses. Different hydrological models were implemented in different catchments to simulate daily runoff. A set of flood indices were derived from daily flows and their changes have been evaluated by comparing their values derived from simulations corresponding to the current and future climate. Most of the implemented downscaling methods project an increase in the extreme flow indices in most of the catchments. The catchments where the extremes are expected to increase have a rainfall-dominated flood regime. In these catchments, the downscaling methods also project an increase in the extreme precipitation in the seasons when the extreme flows occur. In catchments where the flooding is mainly caused by spring/summer snowmelt, the downscaling methods project a decrease in the extreme flows in three of the four catchments considered. A major portion of the variability in the projected changes in the extreme flow indices is attributable to the variability of the climate model ensemble, although the statistical downscaling methods contribute 35–60% of the total variance. © 2016 Elsevier B.V