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Have we entered a New Normal? The physics, the feedbacks, the implications and the responses to our changing climate

The talk will walk through the physics of climate change using the very latest satellite data to show how the planet is out of energy balance, is accumulating energy at an accelerating rate, and how this energy is taken up as heat in different Earth systems. The up-coming ‘Goliath’ El Niño effects will be looked at with reference to past events and the phenomenon of temperature ratcheting uncovered, leading to predictions for the second half of this decade. Tipping points are the next topic, focussing on the ocean currents and Amazon rainforest, as well as the economic consequences of the continued warming. The talk will then look at the triad of measures we still have available to combat the predicament — decarbonising the economy, removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, and deploying solar geoengineering. Finally we’ll try and answer the question of whether this is a new normal.

About the speaker. Tom has a PhD in neural computing for signal processing from Brunel University, back before it was called AI. He spent his early career as a university lecturer in Industrial Design and Engineering while building a group researching neural computing applications, before spinning out a medical device company using the technology. He has spent the last 25 years working with over 200 grant-funded projects covering a wide range of technologies, including carbon capture, smart energy grids and energy efficiency. Now retired, he writes on climate science on his Substack Climate Uncovered, with the aim of translating complex scientific papers for a wider audience. He also applies his data processing and machine learning experience to interpret climate data sets.