Scientific news

It’s getting hot!

The new report by the UN’s climate experts (IPCC), the last volume of which came out on 4 April, is very alarmist about the future of humanity and insists on the need to remedy global warming through immediate drastic measures... Solutions do exist.

Lever de soleil à Thèbes, en Égypte
Lever de soleil à Thèbes, en Égypte

© Yann Rantier / CNRS Photothèque

View the media

The 6th full IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, in which CNRS scientists participated, is now published. A third volume of the report and its summary for the world’s decision-makers is officially released today. The first and second volumes were released in August 2021 and February 2022.

Since the previous report in 2014, the experts’ findings have worsened. The historic commitments made in 2015 in Paris at COP 21 by 195 countries in an attempt to halt global warming are no longer enough. The ambitious commitment made at the time to keep climate change below 2°C by 2100 and to stay below the 1.5°C increase in temperature has been exceeded.

The report’s conclusions state that the timetable for ongoing climate change is much closer than we think and that humanity will suffer the cataclysmic consequences well before 2050, i.e. well before the children born in 2021 are 30 years old.

CNRS scientists are already hard at work. Discover our many reports on the consequences of climate change in the oceans and glaciers, and meet the people who are working daily to find solutions to limit its impact.

Open media modal

Only available for non-commercial distribution

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.

Video
7714
Incendies : des chercheurs aux avant-postes
Open media modal

Only available for non-commercial distribution

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.

Video
7425
SURe
Open media modal

Only available for non-commercial distribution

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.

Video
7482
Ilots de chaleur : quel climat pour demain ?
Open media modal

For any commercial distribution contact the executive producer

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.

Video
7366
Peatlands: Carbon traps
Open media modal

For any commercial distribution contact the executive producer

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…

Video
7347
Greenhouse gases: balloons in the sky
Open media modal

For any commercial distribution contact the executive producer

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…

Video
7346
Glaciers, the climate sentinels
Open media modal

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…

Video
7348
What will the climate be like in Europe in 2050?
Open media modal

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…

Video
4482
Océans : élévation et réchauffement
Open media modal

Only available for non-commercial distribution

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…

Video
6518
Ecotron: a Climate Simulator
Open media modal

Film for consultation only

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…

Video
6981
Mission Tonga
Open media modal

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…

Video
1054
Climate, from yesterday to tomorrow
Open media modal

Only available for non-commercial distribution

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.

Video
6464
India: Nature under Pressure

CNRS Images,

Our work is guided by the way scientists question the world around them and we translate their research into images to help people to understand the world better and to awaken their curiosity and wonderment.