From patrik.winiger at itm.su.se Tue Mar 5 12:48:52 2013 From: patrik.winiger at itm.su.se (Patrik Winiger) Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:48:52 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] BGC+ATM spring semester schedule 2013 In-Reply-To: <000001ce0ab0$406cb130$c1461390$@horst@itm.su.se> References: <00e701cc67e8$df237be0$9d6a73a0$@gustafsson@itm.su.se> <001801ccd9d7$6b7ea640$427bf2c0$@horst@itm.su.se> <003601ccdb75$cca34350$65e9c9f0$@horst@itm.su.se> <000001ccf6ed$6ce300c0$46a90240$@horst@itm.su.se> <007401cd1198$79c69110$6d53b330$@horst@itm.su.se> <000e01cd90c5$7ee6bba0$7cb432e0$@kirillova@itm.su.se> <003501cd9bfb$06c6c980$14545c80$@horst@itm.su.se> <000a01cda095$3d676550$b8362ff0$@horst@itm.su.se> <001d01cda7b1$e07338f0$a159aad0$@horst@itm.su.se> <000901cdad30$8605e0a0$9211a1e0$@horst@itm.su.se> <002501cdb2b4$2a24e1d0$7e6ea570$@horst@itm.su.se> <001d01cdbdb3$a50b0190$ef2104b0$@horst@itm.su.se> <000901cdc8af$712a1df0$537e59d0$@horst@itm.su.se> <000001cde914$369032d0$a3b09870$@horst@itm.su.se> <004301cdef29$e44f43f0$acedcbd0$@horst@itm.su.se> <004c01cdf32b$dba30650$92e912f0$@horst@itm.su.se> <001f01cdf89e$05 11b460$0f351d20$@hor s t @itm.su.se> <002601cdffa6$d7575010$8605f030$@horst@itm.su.se> <000001ce0ab0$406cb130$c1461390$@horst@itm.su.se> Message-ID: <5135DBA4.5070608@itm.su.se> announcehead.tif * * *Spring semester 2013 schedule* *Wednesday 9 January at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * Barbara Deutsch, ITM & Baltic Nest Institute, Stockholm University /Tracing terrestrial inputs of HMW-DOM within the Baltic Sea ecosystem/** * * *Wednesday 16 January at 13:00, U36* Satoshi Takahama, ?cole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne, Switzerland /Organic aerosol characterization for source apportionment and physical and chemical property prediction/ * * *Wednesday 23 January at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * Elise Pendall, Dep. of Botany, University of Wyoming, USA /Carbon cycling enhances climate change in Wyoming grassland/ * * *Wednesday 6 February at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * Trond Iversen, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway /NorESM - A testbed for Nordic research on aerosol-climate interactions/ * * *Wednesday 20 February at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * C?lia Sapart, C?lia Sapart Inst. for Marine and Atm. research, Utrecht, Netherlands /Understanding Arctic methane emissions with isotope measurements in sediment, water, air and ice/ * * *Wednesday 20 March at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * Christian Beer, ITM & Bolin Centre, Stockholm University /Effects of climate variability and extreme events on the terrestrial carbon balance / * * *Wednesday 2 April at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * Nigel Roulet, Dept. of Geography, McGill University, Canada /Peatland carbon dynamics: response of complex ecosystems to climate variability and change/// * * *Wednesday 17 April at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * Moritz Holtappels, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany /Approaches to estimate mass transport across the sediment water interface/ * * *Thursday 2 May at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * Anna W?hlin, Dept of Earth Sciences, G?teborg University /Prel: "Submarine canyons as efficient transport conveyors in shelf-slope exchange" / * * *Wednesday 15 May at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * Alasdair Skelton, IGV and Bolin Centre, Stockholm University /Measuring carbon and hydrogen emissions from metamorphic rocks / * * *Wednesday 29 May at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * Cristina Facchini, Inst. of Atm. Sciences and Climate (ISAC) of the National Research Council (CNR), Bologna, Italy /Biogenic organic components in marine aerosol particles/ * * *Wednesday 12 June at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen * /TBD/ *The Bolin Centre for Climate Research, the Department of Applied * *Environmental Science and the Department of Geological Sciences * /Organizers : Patrick Crill, (patrick.crill at geo.su.se ), ?rjan Gustafsson,/ /(orjan.gustafsson at itm.su.se ), Axel Horst, (axel.horst at itm.su.se ),/ From agatha.deboer at geo.su.se Thu Mar 7 12:20:48 2013 From: agatha.deboer at geo.su.se (Agatha de Boer) Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:20:48 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] Robert Graham Licentiate: 25 March 10am Message-ID: <51387810.9090308@geo.su.se> Dear all, I'm pleased to announce that Robert Graham will present his licentiate thesis: *"The **L**ocation and Variability of Southern Ocean **Fronts"* Time: Monday 25 Marchat 10:00. Place: De Geer Salen. Examiners will be: Jonas Nycander from MISU and Qiong Zhang from INK. All very welcome to attend. Best, Agatha -- Agatha M. de Boer, Associate Professor Dept. of Geological Science and Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Tel: +46 8 16 4730 http://people.su.se/~adebo From axel.horst at itm.su.se Wed Mar 13 14:12:59 2013 From: axel.horst at itm.su.se (Axel Horst) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:12:59 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] BGC+ATM seminar Wednesday, 20 March, 13:00 Message-ID: <1363180379270342500@itm.su.se> Lectures in Biogeochemistry and Atmospheric Science Wednesday 20 March at 13:00 Ahlmansalen, Geohuset Effects of climate variability and extreme events on the terrestrial carbon balance by Christian Beer, ITM & Bolin Centre, Stockholm University The Bolin Centre for Climate Research, the Department of Applied Environmental Science and the Department of Geological Sciences Organizers : Patrick Crill, (patrick.crill at geo.su.se), ?rjan Gustafsson, (orjan.gustafsson at itm.su.se), Axel Horst, (axel.horst at itm.su.se), From axel.horst at itm.su.se Sun Mar 17 19:27:50 2013 From: axel.horst at itm.su.se (Axel Horst) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:27:50 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] corrected BGC+ATM spring semester schedule 2013 Message-ID: <1363544870868590500@itm.su.se> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Please find below the corrected BGC+ATM spring semester schedule. Corrected/new dates are written in capital letters. /Axel Spring semester 2013 schedule Wednesday 9 January at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Barbara Deutsch, ITM & Baltic Nest Institute, Stockholm University /Tracing terrestrial inputs of HMW-DOM within the Baltic Sea ecosystem Wednesday 16 January at 13:00, U36 Satoshi Takahama, ?cole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne, Switzerland /Organic aerosol characterization for source apportionment and physical and chemical property prediction Wednesday 23 January at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Elise Pendall, Dep. of Botany, University of Wyoming, USA /Carbon cycling enhances climate change in Wyoming grassland Wednesday 6 February at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Trond Iversen, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway /NorESM - A testbed for Nordic research on aerosol-climate interactions Wednesday 20 February at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen C?lia Sapart, C?lia Sapart Inst. for Marine and Atm. research, Utrecht, Netherlands /Understanding Arctic methane emissions with isotope measurements in sediment, water, air and ice Wednesday 20 March at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Christian Beer, ITM & Bolin Centre, Stockholm University /Effects of climate variability and extreme events on the terrestrial carbon balance TUESDAY 2 APRIL at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Nigel Roulet, Dept. of Geography, McGill University, Canada /Peatland carbon dynamics: response of complex ecosystems to climate variability and change Wednesday 17 April at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Moritz Holtappels, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany /Approaches to estimate mass transport across the sediment water interface Thursday 2 May at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Anna W?hlin, Dept of Earth Sciences, G?teborg University /Prel: ?Submarine canyons as efficient transport conveyors in shelf-slope exchange? Wednesday 15 May at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Alasdair Skelton, IGV and Bolin Centre, Stockholm University /Measuring carbon and hydrogen emissions from metamorphic rocks Wednesday 29 May at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Cristina Facchini, Inst. of Atm. Sciences and Climate (ISAC) of the National Research Council (CNR), Bologna, Italy /Biogenic organic components in marine aerosol particles MONDAY 3 JUNE at 13:00, Ahlmannsalen Ole Stig Jacobsen, Dept. of Geochemistry, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark /Emisssion of volatile organohalogens in Arctic and Subarctic terrestrial systems in Sweden and Greenland The Bolin Centre for Climate Research, the Department of Applied Environmental Science and the Department of Geological Sciences Organizers : Patrick Crill, (patrick.crill at geo.su.se), ?rjan Gustafsson, (orjan.gustafsson at itm.su.se), Axel Horst, (axel.horst at itm.su.se), From axel.horst at itm.su.se Tue Mar 19 16:25:44 2013 From: axel.horst at itm.su.se (Axel Horst) Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:25:44 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] Reminder: Tomorrows BGC+ATM seminar, 20 March, 13:00 Message-ID: <1363706744608186500@itm.su.se> Letures in Biogeochemistry and Atmospheric Science Wednesday 20 March at 13:00 Ahlmansalen, Geohuset Effects of climate variability and extreme events on the terrestrial carbon balance by Christian Beer, ITM & Bolin Centre, Stockholm University The Bolin Centre for Climate Research, the Department of Applied Environmental Science and the Department of Geological Sciences Organizers : Patrick Crill, (patrick.crill at geo.su.se), ?rjan Gustafsson, (orjan.gustafsson at itm.su.se), Axel Horst, (axel.horst at itm.su.se), From Markus.Meili at itm.su.se Thu Mar 21 07:51:07 2013 From: Markus.Meili at itm.su.se (Markus Meili) Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:51:07 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] =?iso-8859-1?q?Fwd=3A_Five_Post-Doc_schol?= =?iso-8859-1?q?arships_on_Carbon_Biogeochemistry_and_exchange_in_Boreal_F?= =?iso-8859-1?q?orest_and_Mire_Ecosystems_at_SLU=2C_Ume=E5_=2C_Sweden?= Message-ID: Five Postdoctoral two-year Scholarships in Carbon Biogeochemistry and Exchange in Boreal Forest and Mire Ecosystems We are seeking five highly motivated Postdoctoral Researchers with focus on: Carbon biogeochemistry and exchange in boreal forest and mire ecosystems The main focus of these positions is on biosphere - atmosphere - hydrosphere dynamics and exchange processes in the boreal forest landscape. For further information see: http://www.slu.se/en/shortcuts/jobs-and-vacancies/ Mats Nilsson Professor in Soil Science, Biogeochemistry Department of Forest Ecology & Management Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences S-901 83 Ume? Sweden Phone: +46 90 786 83 75; cellular phone: +46 70 688 44 09; home +46 90 210 85 Fax: +46 90 786 81 63 Mats.B.Nilsson at slu.se Fr?n: Mats Nilsson [mailto:Mats.B.Nilsson at SLU.SE] Skickat: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Dear all, Would appreciate if you can distribute this advertisement to potential candidates From Markus.Meili at itm.su.se Fri Mar 22 08:41:45 2013 From: Markus.Meili at itm.su.se (Markus Meili) Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2013 08:41:45 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] Post doc in aquatic biogeochemistry in Uppsala Message-ID: Postdoctoral fellow in aquatic biogeochemistry 2013-03-21 at the Department of Ecology and Genetics/Limnology. Application no later than May 1, 2013. UFV-PA 2013/695 Start date: September 1, 2013 or as agreed upon Tasks: The position involves biochemical modeling with focus on carbon and nitrogen transformations on a landscape scale. The main purpose is to quantify carbon, nitrogen and greenhouse gas cycling in aquatic systems. The project is part of the large research project LAGGE (Landscape Greenhouse Gas Exchange - Integration of terrestrial and freshwater sources and sinks; http://www.bioenv.gu.se/english/research/research-areas/Physiological_botany/projects/lagge-eng/). The work will be conducted in a research team. Large databases with measuring data are available for the modeling approach. For more information on the research of the limnology program see http://www.ebc.uu.se/forskning/IEG/limno/. Period of appointment: Two years. Eligibility: The successful candidate must have a PhD, or an exam, which is judged comparable to a PhD, that was completed within three years of the application deadline. Also those applicants that received their PhD earlier should be given priority if special circumstances exist. Special circumstances are prolonged periods of illness, parental leave, military service, union duties and others of similar character. Ranking criteria: In ranking eligible candidates, special importance will be given to scientific skills in relation to the subject area specified. Special weight will be given to earlier experience in aquatic modeling, aquatic biogeochemical research and handling of large databases. In filling this position the university aims to recruit the person who, in the combined evaluation of competence, skills and documented qualifications, is judged most suitable to carry out and develop the work-in-hand and to contribute to a positive development of the department. How to apply: The application should be written in English and should include a short description of the applicant and his/her research interests. It should also include a CV, copies of relevant examination certificates, a copy of the PhD Thesis and publications as well as other relevant documents (e.g. letters of recommendation or names of reference persons). For further information about the position, please contact Professor Gesa Weyhenmeyer, phone + 46-18-471 2711, email: Gesa.Weyhenmeyer at ebc.uu.se.The trade union representatives are Anders Grundstr?m, Saco (the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations), phone +46 18 471 5380 and Carin S?derh?ll, TCO/ST (the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees), phone +46 18 471 1996, Stefan Djurstr?m, Seko (the Union of Service and Communication Employees), phone +46 18 471 3315. You are welcome to submit your application no later than May 1, 2013, UFV-PA 2013/695. Use the link below to access the application form. Postdoctoral fellow in aquatic biogeochemistry Please check the link on http://www.uu.se/jobb/others/annonsvisning?languageId=1&tarContentId=238560 From agatha.deboer at geo.su.se Sat Mar 23 11:34:03 2013 From: agatha.deboer at geo.su.se (Agatha de Boer) Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 11:34:03 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] Reminder: Robert Graham Licentiate: 25 March 10am In-Reply-To: <51387810.9090308@geo.su.se> References: <51387810.9090308@geo.su.se> Message-ID: <514D851B.9070003@geo.su.se> Dear all, Just a friendly reminder that Robert Graham will present his licentiate thesis on Monday titled, *"The **L**ocation and Variability of Southern Ocean **Fronts"* Time: Monday 25 Marchat 10:00. Place: De Geer Salen. Examiners will be: Jonas Nycander from MISU and Qiong Zhang from INK. All very welcome to attend. Best, Agatha -- Agatha M. de Boer, Associate Professor Dept. of Geological Science and Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Tel: +46 8 16 4730 http://people.su.se/~adebo From rodrigo at misu.su.se Mon Mar 25 16:31:29 2013 From: rodrigo at misu.su.se (Rodrigo Caballero) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:31:29 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] Hamish Struthers NSC Message-ID: <5F4F4106-389D-4396-9A4A-A8B0A528A2DB@misu.su.se> Hi all, Hamish Struthers, climate application expert at NSC, will be visiting us again this Thursday 28 March. Come by MISU at any time of day if you would like his help or advice on computing issues at large; drop him a note to arrange a time if you'd like a longer meeting with him. All the best, Rodrigo From qiong.zhang at natgeo.su.se Mon Mar 25 17:07:01 2013 From: qiong.zhang at natgeo.su.se (Qiong Zhang) Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:07:01 +0000 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] Two seminars on climate dynamics on April 2 and 3 Message-ID: <5ACF39B284D1FE4AB3E849A9F15134424733F4@ebox-prod-srv01.win.su.se> Dear colleagues, We will have a scientist visiting us next week from Tuesday to Friday. He will give the following two seminars during his stay. If anyone would like to discuss with him, feel free let me know and we will arrange the meeting time. Speaker: Prof. Ming Cai Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Science, Florida State University Seminar 1: A New Look at the Physics and Energy Fluxes of Rossby Waves Tuesday, April 2 at 11.15 Room: C609, Arrhenius laboratories, 6th floor Seminar 2: Factors Contributing to Polar Warming Amplification Wednesday, April 3 at 13.00 Room: William-Olssonsalen, Geobuilding hus Y All are welcome! I also attached the abstracts in case you would like to know more about his talks. Best regards, Qiong --------------------- A New Look at the Physics and Energy Fluxes of Rossby Waves Rossby wave dynamics is the cornerstone of all modern textbooks on atmospheric and ocean dynamics. The oscillation mechanism of Rossby waves is generally understood through the conservation of QGPV and potential vorticity gradient is identified as its restoring force, although it is not clear what is its mechanical restoring force from the perspective of the Newton?s second law, as in other types of waves in fluid mechanics. Furthermore, for most types of waves in fluid, the mean pressure work is equal to the product of the mean wave energy and the group velocity of waves. Therefore, it is said that energy of wave motions propagates at the speed of the group velocity of waves. However, the relationship between pressure work and group velocity seems to break down in the case of Rossby waves, because the zonal component of the mean energy flux obtained from the mean pressure work has one term ?missing? in comparison with the group velocity energy transport. The ?missing? term issue has been traditionally attributed the non-uniqueness in representing the ageostrophic components in a QG system. In this talk, I will present the key results of the recent research in collaboration with Dr. Bohua Huang at COLA on these three outstanding issues on the physics and energy fluxes of Rossby waves. The goal is to unify the physics and dispersive nature of Rossby waves with all other waves in fluid mechanics, as it should be. Our study takes a new look from the mass conservation and QG momentum perspective at the old question: what is the exact form of the mechanical restoring force responsible for the oscillation that causes Rossby waves only to propagate in one direction? The identification of the exact form of the mechanical restoring force responsible for Rossby wave motions enables us to formulate a QG model uniquely. The unique formulation of a QG model ensures that the energetics of a QG model is the same as that derived from the QG potential vorticity equation. As a result, the well-known but somewhat mysterious ?missing term? in the energetics of Rossby waves can be easily recovered. Factors Contributing to Polar Warming Amplification Polar surface temperatures are expected to warm 2-3 times faster than the global mean surface temperature; a phenomenon referred to as polar warming amplification. Therefore, understanding individual process contributions to the polar warming is critical to understanding global climate sensitivity. The coupled feedback response analysis method (CFRAM) is applied to decompose the annual and zonal mean, vertical temperature response within a transient 1% /yr CO2 increase simulation of the NCAR CCSM4 into individual radiative and non radiative climate feedback process contributions. The total transient annual mean polar warming amplification (amplification factor) at the time of CO2 doubling is +2.12 K (2.3) and +0.94 K (1.6) in the northern and southern hemisphere, respectively. Surface albedo feedback is the largest contributor to the annual mean polar warming amplification accounting for +1.82 K and +1.04 K in the northern and southern hemisphere, respectively. Net cloud feedback is found to be the second largest contributor to polar warming amplification (about +0.38 K in both hemispheres) and is driven by the enhanced downward longwave radiation to the surface resulting from increases in low polar water cloud. The external forcing and atmospheric dynamic transport also contribute positively to polar warming amplification: +0.29 K and +0.32 K, respectively. Water vapor feedback contributes negatively to polar warming amplification because its induced surface warming is stronger in low latitudes. Ocean heat transport storage and surface turbulent flux feedbacks also contribute negatively to polar warming amplification. Ocean heat transport and storage terms play an important role in reducing the warming over the Southern Ocean and Northern Atlantic Ocean. From axel.horst at itm.su.se Tue Mar 26 15:23:52 2013 From: axel.horst at itm.su.se (Axel Horst) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:23:52 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] BGC+ATM seminar Tuesday, 2 April, 13:00 Message-ID: <1364307832435741500@itm.su.se> Lextures in Biogeochemistry and Atmospheric Science Tuesday 2 April at 13:00Ahlmansalen, Geohuset Peatland carbon dynamics: response of complex ecosystems to climate variability and change by Nigel T. Roulet Global Environmental and Climate Change Research Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Canada The Bolin Centre for Climate Research, the Department of Applied Environmental Science and the Department of Geological Sciences Organizers : Patrick Crill, (patrick.crill at geo.su.se), ?rjan Gustafsson, (orjan.gustafsson at itm.su.se), Axel Horst, (axel.horst at itm.su.se), From georgia.destouni at natgeo.su.se Thu Mar 28 16:54:05 2013 From: georgia.destouni at natgeo.su.se (Gia Destouni) Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:54:05 +0100 Subject: [Bolincentret-at-su.se] REMINDER: PhD defense at INK, Wednesday April 3, 13:00 Message-ID: Welcome to the PhD defense of Shilpa M. Asokan on: Hydro-Climatic Change in Irrigated World Regions When: Wednesday, April 3 at 13:00 Where: Nordenski?ldsalen, Geovetenskapens hus, Svante Arrhenius v?g 12, Stockholm Opponent: Prof. Howard Wheater, Global Institute for Water Security, School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, Canada Abstract Understanding of hydro-climatic changes in the world?s river basins is required, for instance towards ensuring future food security. Different regional basins experience different levels of hydro-climatic change and different water resource impacts of climate change depending on the endorheic (discharging into terminal inland water) or exorheic (discharging into the ocean) nature of a hydrological basin, along with the climatic conditions and human land-use and water-use practices (for instance for agriculture and its irrigation) within the basin. This thesis has analyzed long-term hydro-climatic changes in two main irrigated regions of the world: the Mahanadi River Basin (MRB) in India and the Aral region in Central Asia, including the terminal Aral Sea and the hydrological basin draining into it. The thesis applies a basin-wise, data-driven water balance-constrained approach to understanding and quantifying the hydro-climatic changes, and to distinguish their main drivers in the past century and for future scenario projections. Results point at human water-use and water re-distribution for irrigation within a basin as a major driver of water balance and water resource changes, which also affect surface temperature in the region. Cross-regional comparison between change results for the two different study basins clarifies the importance of different perspectives on hydro-climatic change. One perspective may for instance focus on the climatically important changes of water, vapor and latent heat fluxes at the land surface, while another may focus on changes to water resource availability in the landscape, with different change drivers then being dominant from these different perspectives on continental water change. Thesis results show that irrigation-driven changes in evapotranspiration and latent heat fluxes and associated temperature changes at the land surface may be greater in regions with small relative irrigation impacts on water availability in the landscape (here represented by MRB) than in regions with severe such impacts (here represented by the Aral region). This implies that one cannot from knowledge about only one aspect of hydro-climatic change (such as temperature and precipitation changes at the land surface as given from climate modeling) simply extrapolate the impact importance of those changes for other types of water changes (such as on availability of water resources) in a region. Climate model projections from General Circulation Models (GCMs) used in the fourth assessment report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were also studied in the thesis regarding their performance against hydrologically important, basin-scale observational temperature and precipitation datasets. Results show lack of consistency in individual GCM performance with regard to temperature and to precipitation, implying difficulties to identify well-performing GCMs with regard to both of these variables in a region. For the example study case of the Aral region, the thesis shows that consideration of the ensemble mean of different GCM outputs may instead provide robust projection of future hydro-climate changes in a regional hydrological basin. Keywords: Climate change, hydro-climatic change, evapotranspiration, irrigation, water demand, water balance, land-use, water-use, hydrological catchment, Aral Sea, India, Mahanadi River Basin Happy Easter and welcome to the defense! Gia -- Georgia Destouni Professor of Hydrology, Hydrogeology and Water Resources Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology Stockholm University SE-106 91 Stockholm Telephone: +46 (0)8 164785 Fax: +46 (0)8 16 4794 e-mail: georgia.destouni at natgeo.su.se http://giadestouni.blogspot.se/