A.L. Berger - Böcker

It has been widely recognized recently that in order to make scientific progress on large and important problems (eg, carbon dioxide effects on climate, viability of various sites for nuclear waste disposal etc.), it is necessary to integrate knowledge from wide ranging sets of disciplines. This is certainly true in the climate sciences, for progress in understanding the cause of the ice ages or the effects of industrial pollution on the future climate or even the likelihood of severe climatic consequences in the aftermath of nuclear war. All require state-of -the -art input from many geoscience disci­ plines climatology, oceanography, meteorology, chemistry, ecology, glaciology, geology, astronomy, space technology, computer technology, mathematics etc. Major international meetings have called for interaction of such geo-science disciplines to solve real world problems. To move beyond the rhetorical level, the NATO Special Programme on Global Transport Mechanisms in the Geo-Sciences whose activities started in 1983, deci­ ded to organise his closing symposium on such a topic which focus on the relationship between climate and geo-sciences. This symposium was held at the end of May 1988 at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-Ia-Neuve, Belgium. One hundred-and-thirty participants from the 16 NATO countries and a number of non-NATO countries assembled for the Symposium. Another feature was the attendance by special invitation of 16 pro­ mising young scientists who might well become leading scientists on climate and geo-sciences in their respective countries in the next century.

It has been widely recognized recently that in order to make scientific progress on large and important problems (eg, carbon dioxide effects on climate, viability of various sites for nuclear waste disposal etc.), it is necessary to integrate knowledge from wide ranging sets of disciplines. This is certainly true in the climate sciences, for progress in understanding the cause of the ice ages or the effects of industrial pollution on the future climate or even the likelihood of severe climatic consequences in the aftermath of nuclear war. All require state-of -the -art input from many geoscience disci­ plines climatology, oceanography, meteorology, chemistry, ecology, glaciology, geology, astronomy, space technology, computer technology, mathematics etc. Major international meetings have called for interaction of such geo-science disciplines to solve real world problems. To move beyond the rhetorical level, the NATO Special Programme on Global Transport Mechanisms in the Geo-Sciences whose activities started in 1983, deci­ ded to organise his closing symposium on such a topic which focus on the relationship between climate and geo-sciences. This symposium was held at the end of May 1988 at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-Ia-Neuve, Belgium. One hundred-and-thirty participants from the 16 NATO countries and a number of non-NATO countries assembled for the Symposium. Another feature was the attendance by special invitation of 16 pro­ mising young scientists who might well become leading scientists on climate and geo-sciences in their respective countries in the next century.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE ETTORE MAJORANA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF CLIMATOLOGY The "Ettore Majorana Centre" for Scientific Culture, founded at Erice in 1963 by prof. Nino Zichichi, pursues the fundamental aim to create in Europe a cultural forum of high scientific standard, which can allow young research workers to appreciate current problems of major interest in the various fields of scientific research. , Since the beginning, its International Schools (over 70, today) have actively worked in disseminating scientific culture produced at the most advanced frontiers of human knowledge, spanning varied domains from biology to nuclear physics, earth sciences, meteorology, architecture, medical sciences and so on, Recently, in 1979, the International School of Climatology has been created with the purpose to organize post-doctorate cour ,;es, in which outstanding and up-to-date outlooks, theories and results in the climatic field must be presented in didactic form. Climatic variability was the subject of the first Course, in that climatic changes represent one of the most exciting phenomenologies to study; in fact, even if the climate has changed many times in the past, so making it reasonable to as­ sume that it will do so in the future, it is still not easy to understand the above mentioned changes from an hydrodynamical point of view.

ix Fully aware of the work accomplished by Mgr. Lemattre, His Majesty King Baudouin enhanced this occasion by placing it under His High Patronage. His Holiness the Pope Jean-Paul II accepted to testify his paternel solicitude for the work of the scientists participating in the symposium. The President of the pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Director of the Vatican Observatory transmitted their fervent wishes for the full success of the symposium. Numerous other eminent people graced the ceremony with their patronage. The academic opening, the addresses of which are pub*lished by the Revue des Questions Scientifiques de Bruxelles , was presided over by Mgr. E. Massaux, Rector of the Catholic University of Louvain who spoke about Lemattre, the University professor. Professor Ch. de Duve, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, called to mind the role of Lemattre as President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; the Emeritus Professor O. Godart, founder of the Institute, recalled the life and work of Mgr. Lemattre; Professor A. Deprit, Senior Mathematician at the National Bureau of Standards, spoke about Lemattre' s work in celestial mechanics and his keen interest for computers; Professor J. Peebles, Professor of Physics at Princeton University, summarized the fundamental contributions of Lemattre to modern cosmology. The attendance of more than three hundred people was enhanced by the presence of Mgr. A. Pedroni, Papal Nuncio, Mr Ph. Maystadt, Minister of Research Policy, Mr E. Knoops, Secretary of State, Mr Y. de Wasseige, Senator, Professor E.

ix Fully aware of the work accomplished by Mgr. Lemattre, His Majesty King Baudouin enhanced this occasion by placing it under His High Patronage. His Holiness the Pope Jean-Paul II accepted to testify his paternel solicitude for the work of the scientists participating in the symposium. The President of the pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Director of the Vatican Observatory transmitted their fervent wishes for the full success of the symposium. Numerous other eminent people graced the ceremony with their patronage. The academic opening, the addresses of which are pub*lished by the Revue des Questions Scientifiques de Bruxelles , was presided over by Mgr. E. Massaux, Rector of the Catholic University of Louvain who spoke about Lemattre, the University professor. Professor Ch. de Duve, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, called to mind the role of Lemattre as President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; the Emeritus Professor O. Godart, founder of the Institute, recalled the life and work of Mgr. Lemattre; Professor A. Deprit, Senior Mathematician at the National Bureau of Standards, spoke about Lemattre' s work in celestial mechanics and his keen interest for computers; Professor J. Peebles, Professor of Physics at Princeton University, summarized the fundamental contributions of Lemattre to modern cosmology. The attendance of more than three hundred people was enhanced by the presence of Mgr. A. Pedroni, Papal Nuncio, Mr Ph. Maystadt, Minister of Research Policy, Mr E. Knoops, Secretary of State, Mr Y. de Wasseige, Senator, Professor E.

The International School of Climatology of the "Ettore Majo­ rana Centre for Scientific Culture" at Erice was founded in 1979, with the aim of organising advanced courses and highly specialized seminars on current problems in the field of climatology. The first course, in March 1980, was devoted to climatic varia­ tions and variability, the understanding of which lies at the roots of modern climatological research. The publicity given to recent extremes of climate, which have had serious consequences for local populations, has led to an increased awareness of the practical importance of researching the causes and nature of climatic changes on all temporal and spatial scales. In recent decades it has become apparent that man himself is capable, mostly through industrial and agricultural activities, of causing climatic perturbations on both the local and global scales. Although these influences are as yet difficult to detect, it is clear that increasing release of C02 through the expanding use of fossil fuels for energy production is one activity that could lead to significant climatic change. Indeed, by this means, energy use has the potential of being the major influence on climate over the next century, so the choice of this aspect of climate-ener­ gy interactions as the topic of the Second Course of the Interna­ tional School of Climatology was an obvious one. It took place from 16 - 26 July, 1982.