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COP28: the never-ending climate emergency

COP 28 opens on 30 November in Dubai, against the backdrop of accelerating global warming and its effects. On the agenda, in particular, are negotiations to compensate poor countries, those most threatened by climate upheaval.

Conséquence du réchauffement climatique au Groenland, l’eau douce des cours d’eau alimentés par la fonte des neiges et des glaciers, riche en alluvions, donne à la côte une coloration brune en se déversant dans la mer, ce qui masque la clarté de l’eau.
Conséquence du réchauffement climatique au Groenland, l’eau douce des cours d’eau alimentés par la fonte des neiges et des glaciers, riche en alluvions, donne à la côte une coloration brune en se déversant dans la mer, ce qui masque la clarté de l’eau.

© Erwan Amice / LEMAR / CNRS Photothèque

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The 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP 28, opens on 30 November in Dubai, with the major objective, as it has every year since the first COP in 1995, of limiting global warming, and therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While the number of participants has risen considerably - 70,000 people are expected in Dubai - so have the stakes: the latest IPCC reports are more alarmist than ever, and governments will have to work twice as hard to meet the targets set by the Paris Agreement in 2015 by limiting the rise in temperature to 1.5°C by the end of the century.

It's a tall order, especially as all the signs are that global warming is accelerating, with terrible consequences around the world as early as 2030. It is also these consequences that the participants at COP 28 will be assessing as part of the discussions on the "loss and damage" fund, designed to compensate the poorest countries, which are bearing the full brunt of the effects of global warming even though they contribute the least to it. Be that as it may, one thing is clear: there is an urgent need for action, and the scientific community is obviously at the forefront of this battle.

Scientists are not waiting for the annual COP deadline to work to better understand and counter global warming. Discover a selection of reports on the consequences of global warming, and the initiatives taken by scientists to combat it.

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Certains incendies, comme ceux qui se sont déclarés dans la province de l'Alberta au Canada depuis mai 2023, semblent incontrôlables. Comment anticiper un phénomène aussi variable et imprévisible ? Ce reportage vous emmène en Corse, où des expériences de terrain et des simulations permettent aux scientifiques de mieux comprendre la dynamique des feux de forêt.

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Incendies : des chercheurs aux avant-postes
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Due to global warming and ocean acidification, coral reefs are now an endangered ecosystem. Aboard research shooner Tara, scientists embarked the Tara Pacific expedition in 2016, whose goal is to diagnose the health condition of corals. They aim at creating the most complete database about corals to date. To that end, they use visual analysis, samples, and a new cartography tool for ocean floors, the Hyperdriver. Divers soon noticed the high mortality rate of the reefs, with most corals losing…

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TARA at the Bedside of Coral
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SURe est une plateforme cloud prédisant les îlots de chaleur et la sévérité de la COVID-19 à l'échelle du coin de la rue. Construit à partir de modèles théoriques validés sur de nombreuses villes, SURe révolutionne la façon d'accéder aux données environnementales à l'échelle du quartier sans réseaux de capteurs. SURe fournit des prévisions en temps réel, qui varient en fonction de la localisation, de la saisonnalité, de la densité de la population locale et de la texture de la ville.

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SURe
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Cet été, les rues de Paris se transforment en laboratoire pour comprendre et limiter un phénomène redouté par les citadins : l'îlot de chaleur, causé par des matériaux qui emmagasinent l'énergie du soleil la journée et la restituent pendant la nuit. Découvrez les recherches menées dans le cadre du projet "Paname 2022" sur la qualité de l'air et le climat urbain.

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Ilots de chaleur : quel climat pour demain ?
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In this fifth episode, we discover the importance of wetlands. They cover only 3% of the world's surface but capture a third of the carbon trapped in the soil. How do they react to changing temperatures? To find out, researchers have installed a range of instruments at a site near Counozouls in the Pyrenees.

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Peatlands: Carbon traps
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Discover the studies behind the statistics of 6th IPCC report and the research work of scientists who aim to gain a better understanding of climate change and its impact. This first episode presents the work carried out by members of the LSCE (Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement) at the Traînou site in France. These scientists collect air samples using stratospheric balloons that reach altitudes of over 30 km. The analysis results of these samples are then used…

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Greenhouse gases: balloons in the sky
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This second episode looks at the work of scientists at the Grenoble Institute of Geosciences who are studying the climate change effect on glacier behaviour. In mountainous and polar regions, glaciologists such as Fanny Brun measure the melting glaciers and collect ice samples, sometimes under extreme conditions, as evidence of climate change over time. Laboratory analyses are used to understand the climate change effect on glacier behaviour. Gerhard Krinner, a…

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Glaciers, the climate sentinels
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Faced with global warming, coral reefs are on the front line. As global temperatures rise, the coral bleaches and dies. This decline has an impact on its entire ecosystem. Coral reef researchers Serge Planes and Laetitia Hédouin explain why research at CRIOBE is crucial to saving the coral. This video was produced as part of the OneOceanScience campaign organised by Ifremer, CNRS and IRD. Scientists from 33 countries take part in this digital world tour and explain in a series of short…

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OneOceanScience
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The scale and speed of the change in climate we are facing today is unprecedented. Heat waves, droughts, floods? We are already experiencing the effects on a daily basis. The effects will increase until at least 2050 and all European regions will be affected. Based on the results of the latest available studies, and in particular on the 6th IPCC report, this animated film produced by scientists in the framework of the European project EUCP presents the changes in Europe's climate expected in…

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What will the climate be like in Europe in 2050?
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Pendant longtemps, les discussions sur le changement climatique n ' ont pas pris l ' océan en compte. Quel rôle l ' océan joue-t-il dans le climat et quels sont les impacts du changement climatique sur l ' océan? Trois chercheurs, Sabrina Speich, Gilles Reverdin et Benoît Meyssignac, reviennent sur deux problématiques, le réchauffement et l'élévation du niveau des océans. Les mesures effectuées par des marégraphes, puis des satellites ont démontré que le niveau de la mer est monté…

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Océans : élévation et réchauffement
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An Ecotron is a device that enables scientists to simulate several climate parameters and control them to study miniature versions of given ecosystems. A team in France decided to study Arizona savannahs. Locked in hermetic climate chambers, they analyse different plants from the savannah after accurately calibrating the surrounding light, the irrigation system, and the composition of the atmosphere. Thanks to the collected data, the team will be able to forecast the ecosystem's reaction to any…

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Ecotron: a Climate Simulator
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The Tonga mission takes you on board the Atalante, a French oceanographic vessel searching for shallow submarine volcanoes in order to understand and predict the effects of fluid emissions on marine life and the climate. The expedition, led by two researchers, Sophie Bonnet (oceanographer, IRD) and Cécile Guieu (oceanographer, CNRS), is analysing and studying the effects of the addition of trace elements from shallow hydrothermal springs to determine the potential impact on marine productivity…

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Mission Tonga
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A video clip produced in conjunction with the publication of Sylvie Joussaume's book "Climat d'hier à demain" at the 2000 Salon du Livre in Paris. Sylvie Joussaume is director of research at the Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement (LSCE) in Gif-sur-Yvette. With its accessible style and illustrations which reflect both the current state of the world and the diversity and richness of available climate archives, as well as the most recent results from a rapidly…

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Climate, from yesterday to tomorrow
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Can human development continue at this pace without causing a loss of biodiversity? A group of researchers at the French Institute of Pondicherry believes so. By studying the impact of human activities on a biological hotspot in the South of India, they hope to find the key to a harmonious coexistence between humans and wildlife.

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India: Nature under Pressure

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