Talk on modeling: Nature-based Solutions, Wildfires and AI - A 21st-century battle to mitigate climate change through the application of nature-based solutions
June 27, 2024 | 11:00 h - 12:00 h
We'd like to invite you to a talk on the topic of modeling.
Topic: Nature-based Solutions, Wildfires and AI - A 21st-century battle to mitigate climate change through the application of nature-based solutions
Speaker: Olivier Chalifour, PhD Student at Concordia University, Canada
How to join
You are welcome to join via Zoom: https://uni-bonn.zoom-x.de/j/66836777717?pwd=OvndWeyeK2acbwf7AMdBqHx4J8mGXk.1
Abstract
Nature-based solutions, or NbS, are essential in the fight against climate change. By 2030, nature-based carbon storage in forests and other land ecosystems has the capacity to absorb 23.8 PgCO2e per year and up to 78.2 TgCO2e per year in Canada alone. However, carbon stored in nature is vulnerable to disturbances, such as can occur as a result of wildfire. It is therefore critical to quantify the regional vulnerability of carbon storage to disturbance events so as to minimize potential carbon losses. In my research, I aim to assess the effectiveness of nature-based solutions and their vulnerability to changing disturbance regimes under future climate change scenarios. I plan to use the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM), an intermediate-complexity global climate model which is well-suited to investigate future interactions between wildfire dynamics and NbS carbon storage. I am also planning to incorporate AI techniques into the climate model to emulate wildfire processes to improve the simulation of future wildfire dynamics in the model. Artificial intelligence could also be used to optimize the spatial application of NbS in the context of potential changes in wildfire and other disturbance patterns over time. The aim of this research is to inform efforts to increase the resilience and effectiveness of NbS under different climate change scenarios and fire regime changes so as to limit carbon loss from the disturbance of land-based carbon stocks.
