ClimateChange@Hutton - the Science of Climate Change

The fundamental factors and processes causing climate change in the Earth’s atmosphere are physical and chemical in nature and are well understood. The reasons behind the increases in greenhouse gases that drive climate change are also well observed and documented, from a physical perspective. And in many ways, the effects that climate change is having on our environment can be readily observed and have been predicted for decades.

However, there are many scientific questions remaining before we can fully understand the details of what a changing climate will do to our planet, and different parts of the environment will respond. At the James Hutton Institute we are trying to answer these questions for Scotland and the rest of the world. We are also exploring how society needs to change to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and to adapt to the changes that are already inevitable.

All of these questions are interconnected, and require the skills of mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, chemists, biologists, agronomists, ecologists and social scientists. The James Hutton Institute is unique in Scotland in having the capacity to include all these research areas, and to bring them together to develop new understandings of how climate change is taking place, how it will affect us in the future and what we can do about it.

Contact Matt Aitkenhead for further information.