Can you step twice into the same river? Climate change through time: Abridged text of the inaugural address as professor in Climate Modelling and Analysis at the Faculty of Geosciences of Utrecht University held on 29 February 2008

Abstract

Is it possible to step twice into the same river? That is the question I would like to put to you. At first glance, there is no reason to assume that a river will not look exactly the same tomorrow as it does today. And we tend to forget whether it was different yesterday or the day before. ‘Will the weather ever get any better?’ we tend to say to each other after a couple of rainy days. Will we ever see a cold winter again with an Elfstedentocht? Fortunately, some people keep records of the weather, or keep track of rivers flooding or falling dry. That makes it possible to know for sure what stays the same and what changes.