Abstract
This seminar will illustrate how modeling the Earth system helps us understand the climatic changes our planet has undergone over its long history. In particular, we'll look at the principles that regulate temperatures and the hydrological cycle over billions, millions and hundreds of thousands of years, making it possible to sustain life on Earth. However, mankind has become a major factor in climate change, with the characteristic that its effects on the environment are dazzling and ultimately threaten mankind. In this lecture, we will compare long-term, natural changes with the anthropogenic changes underway.
