A few weeks ago I was in New Orleans to take part in the Ocean Sciences meeting of the American Geophysical Union. It is only mid-February and the weather is then supposed to be gentle in this part of the US, as the winter is slowly giving way to spring. Read more.

In 1966 a group of enthusiastic pioneers founded the Institute for Meteorology and Oceanography Utrecht (IMOU). Twenty-five years later, in 1991, its name changed to Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU).  Read more.

Although the name El Niño (`little boy/Christ child’) actually refers to the fact that most ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) events peak around Christmas, it also nicely captures a troublesome property of the phenomenon: It behaves as quirkily and unpredictably as a three-year-old child. Read more.

The global climate is changing, will probably change by quite a bit more in the future, but has also seen large changes in the past. The main drivers behind these changes are believed to be insolation changes in combination with variable concentrations in atmospheric greenhouse gases, in particular CO2.  Read more.

The Complex System Studies network is a recent initiative of Utrecht University in the framework of its new focus area “Foundations of Complex Systems”. Complex systems are all around us, and include phenomena ranging from an economic crisis to climate change and the spreading of diseases. Read more.

In August 2016 we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Utrecht Summer School on Physics of the Climate System (USPC). Read more.

We are very interested in the careers of our PhD graduates. In this edition former PhD student Janneke Ettema tells us about the choices she made.

'In 2010 I obtained my PhD degree after four years of research at IMAU on regional climate modeling of the Greenland ice sheet. Although the Greenland research was pretty intriguing, I decided to refocus my academic career.' Read more.

IMAU news March 2016

Editors IMAU news  Michiel van den Broeke, Anna von der Heydt, Rupert Holzinger, Marcel Portanger and Sandra Tap  Send us a message.

IMAU news I IMAU website