The deep past offers lessons for the near future. 

By Dr. Thomas Steuber

Global environmental change is an increasing concern, particularly in the Gulf. Extreme weather events and rising temperatures and sea levels are becoming more evident by the year. As the climate in the UAE is already hot and dry, and most of its population concentrated along the coastline, what will the future hold? Today, this vital question is typically investigated with complex climate models, and the underlying science is regularly assessed by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which summarises its findings in periodical reports. Its most recent one concluded that climate change is rapid and intensifying.

Fortunately, and unbeknown to many, billions of years of geological history can help help us understand the nature of today’s challenge and help us predict our collective future.

The ground under the UAE has much to offer in this endeavour. Its heritage extends back into “deep time”, hundreds of millions of years into the past. This is far beyond the hundreds of thousands of years when the region is first thought to have been inhabited by humans.

In deep geological terms, several mass extinction events have now been recognised, each of them wiping out more than 70 per cent of species at the time. To understand the causes and effects of these disasters, we need to try our best to read the diverse sedimentary rocks found in the UAE, a form of natural archive. Consider the mountain ranges of the northern emirates and Jebel Hafeet near Al Ain as books waiting to be read.

The first challenge is to understand the language of these books, in order to be able to read them. Then we need to identify the “pages” that contain information about previous catastrophes. This is extremely difficult. Just imagine sifting through millions of pages to find only one containing the information we need. It is not an easy task, but reading earth’s history is a vocation we geologists train for and happily spend much of our lives doing.

Scientists from UAE universities have published their findings on the region for decades. But our area of research has gathered significant momentum recently, as the effects of climate change on biodiversity, sea levels and coastal cities and infrastructure move into public interest. Now, earth scientists of various backgrounds are flocking to the region to contribute to research taking place at the UAE’s exquisite geological “archives”. Recognising the importance of climate change science, the UAE established the Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment, which now gathers local expertise through the UAE Climate Change Research Network.

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Climate change and its impact have been a growing concern worldwide. To continue and further enhance the UAE’s efforts in addressing the issue of climate change, the Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment (MOCCAE) has established the UAE Climate Change Research Network (CCRN). The Network brings together a group of committed climate change scientists and researchers from universities, the government, and other research entities to promote collaborations among scientists in the region working on the different challenges imposed by climate change. 

The Network is organized into 4 clusters spanning different topics of concern with the members identified based on their expertise. Khalifa University’s very own Dr. Diana Francis, Senior Research Scientist and Head of the ENGEOS Lab, has been appointed Lead of the Climate Data and Modeling Cluster in which there are more than 30 scientists spread over the different universities and institutions in the UAE. This cluster focuses on the local and regional climatic conditions, trends, and projections. These include temperature, precipitation, sea level, and extreme weather events such as heatwaves, flooding, storms, etc. 

“My role will be to foster the collaborations on these topics among all scientists in the UAE to come up with new ideas, new collaborative work and science-based solutions to the challenges related to climate change, all under the umbrella of the ministry and the CCRN,” Dr. Diana explained. 

As cluster lead, Dr. Diana will be responsible for coordinating agenda-setting, project design, and research activities within the cluster, as well as organizing cluster discussions, engaging other cluster members, and ensuring the delivery projects.

Dr. Diana heads the ENGEOS Lab at Khalifa University where research activities focus on studying natural processes and addressing environmental challenges at local and regional scales to propose sustainable solutions and support science-based strategies for stakeholders and governmental entities. 

“At ENGEOS lab, we work on several projects that are of particular relevance to the Climate and Modeling Cluster of the UAE CCRN. For instance, we work on the regional climate of the Arabian Peninsula and the UAE to characterize its main patterns and detect trends and variabilities. We also work on the link between the different components of the regional climate system, especially the link between the atmospheric circulation and air quality, meteorological phenomena (such as fog, dust storms, etc.). In addition to working on the climate of our region, we investigate the climate of Polar Regions such as Antarctica and the Arctic, where the footprint of climate change is clearly visible and changes there can impact our region via changes in the global atmospheric and oceanic circulation and changes in sea level due to ice melt. At ENGEOS, we perform these research activities by combining observational data and modeling techniques including machine learning and artificial intelligence,” Dr. Diana said. 

“I’m extremely proud and honored by this appointment, at the same time I’m well aware of the big responsibility that comes with it and will spare no effort to serve this community and this role as best as I can. I take this opportunity to extend my deepest respect and appreciation to all the CCRN members, the CCRN support team at the Ministry, and all my colleagues, partners and collaborators for their trust, confidence, and generous encouragement. I greatly look forward to support and work with the KU community toward a successful contribution from all of us at KU into this national effort.”

Ara Maj Cruz
Creative Writer
17 August 2021

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