Climate and Environmental Physics (CEP)

Climate and Environmental Physics is a division of the Physics Institute of the University of Bern and affiliated to the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research. Our team of more than 60 is committed to understand the processes of the Earth System on time scales from seasons to a million years.

We analyse environmental archives such as ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica, groundwater and tree rings to reconstruct climate and environmental changes. With our unique palette of physical-biogeochemical climate models we investigate causes of past climate change and simulate the consequences of future man-made climate change. Since 2008 we hold the world record in the reconstruction of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations of the past 800,000 years based on an Antarctic ice core.

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Seminar Series

Research groups at CEP

Courses offered at CEP

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Master and Bachelor Thesis

News and Events

Thomas Stocker to receive the EGU Alfred Wegener Medal 2026

Thomas Stocker, Professor Emeritus at CEP and former head of the division for three decades, will receive the Alfred Wegener Medal & EGU Honorary Membership in 2026. This honor is one of the three equally ranked, most prestigious awards made by the European Geosciences Union and presented to scientists who have achieved exceptional international standing in atmospheric, hydrological or ocean sciences during the course of their career.

Hubertus Fischer recognized for his outstanding teaching contributions

Hubertus Fischer has been recognized for his outstanding teaching contributions with a distinction for his lecture "Glaciology and Ice Cores." This award is based on exceptional student evaluations, with only 7 out of 172 evaluated lectures receiving this honor from the Faculty of Science of the University of Bern in the spring semester 2025.

Prof. Frerk Pöppelmeier receives an ERC Starting Grant to investigate the impact of Earth system tipping points on marine biogeochemistry

To better understand future climate risks, Frerk will examine how past climate and ocean tipping points affected the marine carbon cycle. By combining marine sediment data of past abrupt climate events with advanced Earth system modelling, he will investigate how disruptions in ocean circulation and biogeochemistry influence the ocean’s CO₂ uptake. This will be achieved through a novel combination of methods that link proxy reconstructions with biogeochemical isotope modeling to quantify and constrain biogeochemical responses to ocean tipping points.

Thomas Frölicher organized the One Ocean Science Congress and joined the Swiss delegation at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice.

Heating, deep-sea mining, vulnerable ecosystems: Thomas Frölicher, professor at CEP, explains in an interview what is going on with the ocean, what glimmers of hope there are and why this is important for Switzerland.

CEP PhD and Postdoc day 2025

On June 13, CEP hosted its fifth PhD and Postdoc Day, showcasing the latest research from 15 early-career scientists.

KUP PhD students scoop poster prizes during the 25th Swiss Global Change Day

During this year's Swiss Global Change Day, Helene Hollitzer and Onno Doensen won prizes for their outstanding posters "Quantifying how nutrient and carbon inputs from land affect Arctic Ocean acidification" and "Extreme cyclones in the central Mediterranean in a regional climate model", respectively. The jury was especially impressed by their layout and clear story-telling.

Record sea surface temperature jump unlikely but not unexpected

Two years ago, global sea surface temperatures rose sharply, considerably exceeding the previous record. A study by the Climate and Environmental Physics Division shows that such extreme temperature jumps would not be possible without the influence of climate change.

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) stable for decades

The mild climate in Europe is owed to the the overturning circulation in the North Atlantic. In a recently published study, the research team led by Dr. Jens Terhaar from CEP developed a new approach to quantify AMOC changes using 24 climate models and observation-based estimates of heat exchange between the ocean and atmosphere. The study concludes that a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) between 1963 and 2017 is not detectable.

Beyond EPICA recovers the first continuous more than 1.2 Myr old ice core

An international team of scientists with participation of CEP successfully drilled a 2,800-meter-long and over 1.2 million years old ice core, reaching the bedrock beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. This opens a completely new window into Earth's climate history and will allow us to measure greenhouse gas concentrations and other parameters over the enigmatic Mid Pleistocene Transition.

Jens Terhaar awarded the Ocean Science Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award

Dr. Jens Terhaar has been honored with the Ocean Science Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award from the European Geosciences Union in recognition of his key contributions to the ocean carbon cycle and its interactions with the climate.

Special symposium: Climate and Environmental Physics: Past Knowledge and Future Directions

This event will explore 30 years of remarkable progress in Climate and Environmental Physics. The symposium will also honor the transformative contributions of Thomas Stocker, Markus Leuenberger and Fortunat Joos, celebrating their immense impact on the field.

4th CEP PhD day

On August 28, CEP held its fourth PhD day, featuring four sessions where 12 PhD students shared the latest developments in their research.

Hubertus Fischer as new head of the division for Climate and Environmental Physics

Starting 01.08.24, Hubertus Fischer will take over as Head of the division for Climate and Environmental Physics from Thomas Stocker, who successfully lead the division for more than 30 years. New deputy head will be Thomas Frölicher.

Thomas Stocker's farewell lecture

In his Fairwell Lecture, Thomas Stocker recounted his 31-year journey at the University of Bern and partied with a large crowd of colleagues, friends and family.

Contact

University of Bern
Climate and Environmental Physics (CEP)

Sidlerstrasse 5
3012 Bern