Friederike Otto

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Friederike Otto
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Born (1982-08-29) 29 August 1982 (age 41)
Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, West-Germany
NationalityGerman
Alma mater University of Potsdam
Free University of Berlin (PhD)
Occupation(s) Physisist, Climatologists

Friederike (Fredi) Elly Luise Otto (born 29 August 1982) is a climatologist who as of December 2021 works as a Senior Lecturer at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London. [1] She is an Honorary Research Associate of the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford. [2] Her research focuses on answering the question whether and to what extent extreme weather conditions change as a result of external climate drivers. [3] A highly recognized expert in the field of attribution research, she examines the extent to which human-caused climate change as well as vulnerability and exposure are responsible for events such heat waves, droughts and floods. Together with climate scientist Geert Jan van Oldenborgh she founded the international project World Weather Attribution which she still leads. [4] [5] [6] In 2021, she was included in the Time 100, Time 's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. [7] She was also one of ten scientists who had had important roles in scientific developments in 2021 highlighted in the scientific journal Nature. [8]

Contents

Biography

Born in Kiel, Germany, in 1982, Friederike Elly Luise Otto graduated in physics from the University of Potsdam before earning a PhD in philosophy of science from the Free University of Berlin in 2012. [3] At Oxford University she began to investigate the impact of weather events on climate change. [9] In her role as co-leader of World Weather Attribution, she has been able to influence the international development of climate change strategies. [10] In connection with Hurricane Harvey in 2017, she concluded that it caused between 12% and 22% of additional rainfall to fall on Houston. She has also maintained that there is little doubt Hurricane Laura in 2020 was the result of climate change effects. [11] [12] She believes that such attribution reports will help to persuade governments to adopt measures aimed at creating more carbon-neutral communities. [13]

Otto's 2019 book Wütendes Wetter, published in English as Angry Weather, became a best seller and received positive reviews. The book details efforts to show which extreme weather events have been made more likely or more severe due to climate change. [14] [15]

The approach to event attribution she codeveloped has become routine within the climate community. It was assessed as mature in the 2021 IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, in contrast to the 2013 IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, in which it was concluded that the scientific methods to attribute individual extreme events to climate change were not yet fit-for-purpose. Otto also works with lawyers using WWA research to provide expertise for lawsuits aimed at compelling companies or governments to lower their impact on the environment or even seek compensation for victims. [16]

In 2021, she was included in the Time 100, Time 's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. [7] She was also one of ten scientists who had had important roles in scientific developments in 2021 highlighted in the scientific journal Nature. [8]

Publications

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</span> Scientific intergovernmental body on climate change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established the IPCC in 1988. The United Nations endorsed the creation of the IPCC later that year. It has a secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by the WMO. It has 195 member states who govern the IPCC. The member states elect a bureau of scientists to serve through an assessment cycle. A cycle is usually six to seven years. The bureau selects experts to prepare IPCC reports. It draws the experts from nominations by governments and observer organizations. The IPCC has three working groups and a task force, which carry out its scientific work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Watson (chemist)</span> British chemist and atmospheric scientist (born 1948)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extreme weather</span> Unusual, severe or unseasonal weather

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climatology</span> Scientific study of climate, defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time

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<i>An Appeal to Reason</i> 2008 book by Nigel Lawson

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Julie Michelle Arblaster is an Australian scientist. She is a Professor in the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University. She was a contributing author on reports for which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Arblaster was a lead author on Chapter 12 of the IPCC Working Group I contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report in 2013. She has received the 2014 Anton Hales Medal for research in earth sciences from the Australian Academy of Science, and the 2017 Priestley Medal from the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. She has been ranked as one of the Top Influential Earth Scientists of 2010-2020, based on citations and discussion of her work.

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María T. Martelo is a Venezuelan climatologist.

World Weather Attribution is an academic collaboration studying extreme event attribution, calculations of the impact of climate change on extreme meteorological events such as heat waves, droughts, and storms. When an extreme event occurs, the project computes the likelihood that the occurrence, intensity, and duration of the event was due to climate change. The project specializes in producing reports rapidly, while news of the event is still fresh.

Extreme event attribution, also known as attribution science, is a relatively new field of study in meteorology and climate science that tries to measure how ongoing climate change directly affects recent extreme weather events. Attribution science aims to determine which such recent events can be explained by or linked to a warming atmosphere and are not simply due to natural variations.

Geert Jan van Oldenborgh was a Dutch climatologist and physicist. Through his career he studied climate modelling of adverse weather events and was known as a pioneer of attribution science, driving public awareness of how climate change is linked to extreme weather events. He was also the creator of a digital platform, Climate Explorer, an online meteorological data repository and platform for climate data analysis.

References

  1. ↑ "Home – Dr Friederike Otto". www.imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  2. ↑ https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/person/professor-friederike-otto, accessed 22 July 2023
  3. 1 2 "Friederike Otto". Climate Strategies. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "2020 weather disasters boosted by climate change: Report". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  5. ↑ Vaughan, Adam. "Friederike Otto interview: Can we sue oil giants for extreme weather?". New Scientist. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  6. ↑ "Siberia's lengthy heatwave a result of climate change, scientists say". NBC News. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  7. 1 2 Calma, Justine (September 15, 2021). "These climate stars are among the world's most 'influential' people". The Verge . Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Nature's 10 Ten people who helped shape science in 2021". Nature. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  9. ↑ "Dr Friederike Otto". Oxford Martin School. Retrieved 2020-12-29.BROKEN LINK
  10. ↑ https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/about/, accessed 20 January 2021
  11. ↑ "Hurricane Laura and the California Fires Are Part of the Same Crisis". Claims Journal. 2020-08-27. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  12. ↑ "Yes, you can blame climate change for extreme weather". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  13. ↑ "Supercomputers, simulations, and the new science of extreme weather attribution". www.digitaltrends.com. October 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  14. ↑ Kaiser, Johannes (7 June 2019). "Eine Physikerin erklärt die Folgen der Erderwärmung" (in German). Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  15. 1 2 3 "Book review: Environmental scientists discover a key, new tool in climate change science". vancouversun. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  16. ↑ Karl, Mathiesen (2021-08-09). "The climatologist who put climate science 'on the offensive'". POLITICO. Retrieved 2021-08-17.
  17. 1 2 "Angry Weather: the science of blaming droughts, hurricanes and wildfires on climate change | CBC Radio". CBC. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
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