Two new research grants in the context of climate change
Project "The Ice Age Machine" receives funding from SNF/Agora
The Knowledge Visualization research group has received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation SNF/Agora for a new research collaboration between design and science. In the project "The Ice Age Machine", an interdisciplinary team of designers together with researchers from the Institute of Geography at the University of Zurich and the University of Lausanne will focus on the latest findings on the impact of climate change on the long-term perspective of warm and cold periods and on the impact of glacier cycles on the landscape. The project is scheduled to run for three years and includes comprehensive measures for communicating with the population and is accompanied by the university communication department.
Research cooperation on rock glaciers in the Swiss National Park
Rock glaciers are ground ice bodies made of debris and ice that move slowly downslope when active. They are important indicators of permafrost in the high mountains and are an ideal example to show the effects of climate warming to a broad public. Since 1919, data such as field measurements and aerial photographs have been collected on block glaciers in the Swiss National Park, which are then converted into digital terrain models.
In a collaboration between the Knowledge Visualization research group, the Institute of Sciences de l'Environnement Université de Genève and the Swiss National Park, a three-dimensional analysis and animation will reveal insights into changes over time and provide further understanding of the precise relationships between temperature, weather and speed of movement.
The models and the resulting findings are to be presented to a broad public in the new staging of the permanent exhibition from 2023 in the visitor centre of the Swiss National Park. This development and research work is made possible by the Swiss National Park Research Commission of the Swiss Academy of Sciences SCNAT.
