Climate Change: Observations and Projections

This lecture covers global climate issues, focusing on the current and future climate changes. It discusses essential climate variables, observations at the surface and in the atmosphere, global networks, satellite observations, and projections based on different scenarios. The instructor emphasizes the impact of human activities on the unprecedented warming trend observed in the past 2000 years, illustrated by the 'hockey stick' temperature graph. The lecture also addresses regional warming patterns, attribution of impacts to climate change, and future projections for temperature, sea ice, ocean pH, and precipitation. Various scenarios and socio-economic pathways are explored to understand the potential manifestations of climate change, with a particular focus on Switzerland's current and projected climate changes.