Department of Physics, University of Malta
Role in the project: Observer
The Department of Physics, within the Faculty of Science of the University of Malta, has a wide area of interest including geophysics and atmospheric physics, as well as that associated with alternative energy devices and applications.
The Department started working on issues related to climate change during 2001, when two of its members, Professor Charles V Sammut, acting as Project Manager, and Professor Alfred Micallef, acting as National Expert were entrusted with overall coordination of the GEF-funded project to prepare Malta’s First National Communication to the UNFCCC.
The team compiled a national capacity self assessment and followed on with a proposal for funding of the Second National Communication, which was approved in January 2007. A primary task of this second project shall be an improved climate impact assessment, followed by detailed vulnerability analysis and the compilation and analysis of national adaptation strategies and measures.
The Department is in the process of acquiring regional climate modeling capacity and has recently obtained the PRECIS software developed by the Hadley Centre at the UK Met Office. The software will be used to the generate additional climate scenarios based on more than one emission scenario for the Mediterranean region with a view to exchanging data with other organizations involved in similar work and publishing research results. This will establish a solid framework for a more thorough analysis of adaptation measures.
In the longer term, the Department of Physics plans to establish a University interdisciplinary centre for the study of climate change and its impacts. Initially, this centre is to serve as the leading national source of scholarly research on issues related to climate change and with the potential of developing into a regional centre.
Web site
http://www.phys.um.edu.mt/CLIMATE/SNC/
CIRCLE team
Professor Charles V Sammut
Tel: +356-2340-2526, +356-2133-2828
e-mail: charles.v.sammut@um.edu.mt