Climatic changes

Students will learn about the causes and impacts of climate change, about past and present climate variability, and about trends and projections of future climate changes till the end of the 21st century. In describing the present, past and expected future climatic conditions, the focus will be on Slovenia and its wider surroundings, including the Mediterranean, the Alps and Central Europe. Particular emphasis will be on the study of relationship between agriculture, especially viticulture and winemaking, and weather and climate variability and change.
Given the inevitability of climate change students will become acquainted with negative, but also some positive and conditionally positive consequences of expected climate changes on viticulture and winemaking. Due to the prevailing negative impacts of climate change, the students will learn how enology and viticulture contribute to the causes of climate change and where are in winemaking and viticulture opportunities for climate change mitigation. On the other hand, it will become acquainted with the possibilities of adapting winemaking and viticulture activities in the changed climate conditions. The perspective of mitigation and adaptation to climate change will be discussed from a broader perspective of agriculture and other industries.

Students of the course will develop the following general competencies: * knowledge of the causes and impacts of physical processes in the atmosphere * recognition of the role of natural, human and society factors in changing climate * knowledge of the options for mitigation and adaptation to climate change

Students will develop also following subject-specific competencies: * managing weather and climate risk in winemaking and viticulture * knowledge of the options for mitigating climate change in the field of vine and wine * knowledge of the options for adapting winemaking and viticulture to climate change

Basic knowledge in viticulture, enology and physics.

1. Climatic factors and causes of climate changes
2. Climate variability in the past
3. Dependence of viticulture and enology on the climatic conditions
4. Projections of climate changes for the 21st century
5. Impact of winemaking and viticulture on climate changes
6. The impact of climate changes in winemaking and viticulture
7. Options for mitigation and adaptation to climate changes
8. The importance of raising awareness on climate changes for winemakers and winegrowers

Knowledge and understanding:
causes of climate changes, dependence of winemaking and viticulture on climate conditions and climate change, options for climate change mitigation and adaptation in winemaking and viticulture

• Houghton D.D. 2002. Introduction to Climate Change: Lecture Notes for Meteorologists, WMO, Ženeva, Švica E-version
• Gladstones J. 1992. Viticulture and Environment, Winettles, Adelide
• Bergant K. in sod. 2004. Spremembe podnebja in kmetijstvo v Sloveniji, ARSO, Ljubljana. Catalogue E-version
• IPCC. 2014. Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability (Del A. Poglavje 7, Del B. Poglavje 23) E-versionA E-versionB
• Gladstone Wine, Terroir and Climate Change
• Vršič, S., Lešnik, M. 2010. Vinogradništvo. ČZP Kmečki glas, Ljubljana. Catalogue
•ppt presentations/slides/professional articles, etc.
• Moodle classrom with e-sources

Tutorial report (10%), seminar (20%), written exam (70%)

Dr. Klemen Bergant is associate professor for the field for meteorology at University of Nova Gorica, employed part time (20%) at its Centre for Atmospheric Research. His research fields are: regional climate change, agroclimatology, physics of the atmosphere, and development and application of lidars. Together with co-authors he published in this research fields over 30 scientific papers and several professional and popular papers. He presented his research work at several scientific and professional conferences, as well as in scientific monographs and reports. Otherwise, Dr. Klemen Bergant is director of Meteorological Office at Slovenian Environment Agency, Permanent Representative of Slovenia with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and is actively involved in the work of Councils and Assemblies of several European meteorological organisations and associations (EUMETSAT, ECMWF, EUMETNET in ECOMET). He is also a court expert for meteorology in the Republic of Slovenia.

Selected bibliography: * GAO, Fei, STANIČ, Samo, BERGANT, Klemen, LI, Ying, LI, Songhui, HUA, Dengxin, WANG, Longlong. Application of the ultraviolet scanning elastic backscatter LiDAR for the investigation of aerosol variability. Remote sensing, ISSN 2072-4292. [Online ed.], 2015, vol. 7, iss. 5, str. 6320-6335, ilustr., doi: 10.3390/rs70506320. [COBISS.SI-ID 3894267] * HE, Tingyao, STANIČ, Samo, GAO, Fei, BERGANT, Klemen, VEBERIČ, Darko, SONG, Xiaoquan, DOLŽAN, Aleš. Tracking of urban aerosols using combined LIDAR-based remote sensing and ground-based measurements. /Atmospheric measurement techniques/, ISSN 1867-1381, 2012, vol. 5, no. 5, str. 891-900, doi: 10.5194/amt-5-891-2012. [COBISS.SI-ID 2230267] * GAO, Fei, STANIČ, Samo, BERGANT, Klemen, BOLTE, Tanja, COREN, Franco, HE, Tingyao, HRABAR, Andrej, JERMAN, Jure, MLADENOVIČ, Ana, TURŠIČ, Janja, VEBERIČ, Darko, IRŠIČ ŽIBERT, Mateja. Monitoring presence and streaming patterns of Icelandic volcanic ash during its arrival to Slovenia. Biogeosciences, ISSN 1726-4170, 2011, vol. 8, no. 8, str. 2351-2363, doi: 10.5194/bg-8-2351-2011. [COBISS.SI-ID 1977339] * BERGANT, Klemen, BELDA, Michal, HALENKA, Tomáš. Systematic errors in the simulation of european climate (1961-2000) with RegCM3 driven by NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. International journal of climatology, ISSN 0899-8418, 2007, vol. 27, str. 455-472. [COBISS.SI-ID 695547] * BERGANT, Klemen, TRDAN, Stanislav. How reliable are thermal constants for insect development when estimated from laboratory experiments?. Entomologia experimentalis et applicata, ISSN 0013-8703, 2006, vol. 120, str. 251-256. [COBISS.SI-ID 4599417] * BERGANT, Klemen, KAJFEŽ-BOGATAJ, Lučka, TRDAN, Stanislav. Uncertainties in modelling of climate change impact in future : an example of onion thrips (Thrips tabaci Lindeman) in Slovenia. V: DEBELJAK, Marko (ur.), DŽEROSKI, Sašo (ur.), ŽENKO, Bernard (ur.). Selected papers from the Fourth European Conference on Ecological Modelling, September 27-October 1, 2004, Bled, Slovenia, (Ecological modelling, ISSN 0304-3800, vol. 194, issues 1-3, 2006). Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006, vol. 194, no. 1-3, str. 244-255. [COBISS.SI-ID 4481913] * BERGANT, Klemen, SUŠNIK, Mojca, STROJAN, Igor, SHAW, Andrew G. P. Sea level variability at Adriatic coast and its relationship to atmospheric forcing. Annales geophysicae, ISSN 0992-7689, 2005, vol. 23, no. 6, str. 1997-2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 417275] * BERGANT, Klemen, KAJFEŽ-BOGATAJ, Lučka, SUŠNIK, Andreja (avtor, urednik), CEGNAR, Tanja, ČREPINŠEK, Zalika, KURNIK, Blaž, DOLINAR, Mojca, GREGORIČ, Gregor, ROGELJ, Damjan, ŽUST, Ana, MATAJC, Iztok, ZUPANČIČ, Boris, PEČENKO, Andrej. Spremembe podnebja in kmetijstvo v Sloveniji. Ljubljana: Agencija Republike Slovenije za okolje, 2004. 40 str., Ilustr. ISBN 961-6024-15-9. [COBISS.SI-ID 213417472]