Scientific Symposium for the Geophysical Institute

On the second and third of October, the Geophysical Institute organized a scientific symposium as a part of the celebration of its own centenary anniversary in 2017. During two inspiring days, both students and employees at GFI, in addition to international experts, held interesting presentations about the different fields of expertise that people at the institute are working with every day.

The head of the institute, Nils Gunnar Kvamstø, opened the first day of the symposium by telling a bit about GFI’s history and the institute’s role today. He thanked the program committee consisting of Peter Haugan, Christoph Heinze and Linda Vagtskjold for their contributions to compile an exciting program, as well as the Rector of UiB, Dag Rune Olsen, for institutional and financial support.

The rest of the day included presentations focusing on the four research groups at GFI: meteorology, oceanography, biochemistry and climate dynamics. The attendants received inspiring keynote talks from international experts, an insight into what the four research groups at GFI do as well as selected research highlights from employees at the institute.

Day two marked the start of the new strategic area for the University of Bergen within climate and energy transformation. The dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Helge K. Dahle, pointed out the central role of geophysics both in figuring out how to extract oil, how it is not good for the climate, and how to solve the problem.

Throughout the day, the role of climate change and energy transition in the society was discussed. We heard about how the climate system works, as well as the human dimension of climate change. Recent research activities within renewable energy at GFI were presented, in addition to a relatively optimistic vision of the future energy system from DNV GL.

The symposium ended with a panel debate on climate change and energy transition, led by Anne Jortveit. The panel members were Dag Rune Olsen (UiB), Gunnar Eskeland (NHH), Jannicke Hilland (BKK), Bjørn Haugland (DNV GL), Ragnhild Freng Dale (PhD-student at the University of Cambridge) and Sølve Sondbø (Head of Climate and Natural Resources Manager at the Hordaland County Council ).

The event was streamed live. Links to recordings of the many interesting presentations can be found in the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page. Here you can also find PDF-versions of the poster presentations on day one.

Links to streaming and poster presentations