Minami Kotani
Sustainability and security issues related to air travel - insights from projects about air travel reduction and clear air turbulence research
Dr. Susann Görlinger will delve into the significance of air travel emissions in the context of achieving net zero goals. Using examples from ETH Zurich and other universities, she will discuss the challenges of implementing flight reduction projects within academia. She will highlight the need for a robust and long-term strategy involving data monitoring, governance, and leadership to transform systems that currently rely heavily on intercontinental mobility.
Dr. Heini Wernli will present current findings on clear air turbulence from his research group. He will share insights gained from multi-annual measurements of turbulence along commercial flights and explain the physical processes near the jet stream level that generate clear air turbulence. Additionally, he will touch on recent studies indicating an increase in clear air turbulence with global warming.
Don’t miss this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of these crucial topics and engage with experts in the field!
Bio
Susann Görlinger has a diverse professional background, including academia, ministry, and industry. In 2017, she initiated and led ETH Zurich’s flight reduction project “stay grounded – keep connected”, which involved all departments in defining their air travel emission reduction targets and specific measures and started a process of cultural change at academia in terms of re-designing academic activities in a more sustainable way. In 2021-2023 she led a similar project with different academic organisations in Germany.
Currently, she is founding a non-profit consulting company (“iilo GmbH”) as an ETH spinoff with a colleague, focusing on flight reduction in different organisations.
Bio
Heini Wernli is professor at ETH Zurich for atmospheric dynamics, which includes the physical understanding of weather phenomena and their numerical prediction. His research group investigates the processes that lead to extreme weather events, like windstorms, heavy rain, hail, and heat waves. The group currently also has a research project about clear air turbulence. In the last six years, Heini Wernli was head of the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Science, and as of summer 2014, he will act as deputy head of the Department for Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich.
Minami Kotani