Mark G. Lawrence | |
---|---|
Born | New Jersey, United States | 5 February 1969
Citizenship | American |
Alma mater | Georgia Institute of Technology |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Atmospheric Sciences, Sustainability |
Institutions | Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies University of Potsdam Max Planck Institute for Chemistry |
Website | https://www.iass-potsdam.de/en/people/mark-lawrence |
Mark G. Lawrence is an American atmospheric scientist whose research focuses on a range of sustainable development topics at the science policy and science-society interface. He is scientific director at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) in Potsdam (former Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam. [1]
Mark Lawrence received his Ph.D. in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in 1996 from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA, after which he moved to Germany to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) in Mainz, working closely with Paul J. Crutzen. [2] From 2000, he was a research group leader at MPIC and went on to lead the working group Atmospheric Modeling at MPIC. In the same year he completed his habilitation in physics at the University of Mainz. In 2009 and 2010 he served as an interim professor of meteorology at the University of Mainz and received the State Teaching Award of Rhineland-Palatinate. [3] On October 15, 2011, Lawrence was appointed to be a scientific director at the IASS Potsdam. [1] [4] In 2023, he is appointed as a member of German Council for Sustainable Development by the chancellor of Germany. [5]
As an atmospheric scientist, Lawrence works particularly on topics within the field of air quality and climate change. At the IASS he helped the organization partner with the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology to fight Climate Change. [6] [7] [8] At the IASS he was coordinator of the EU project 'European Transdisciplinary Analysis of Climate Engineering (EuTRACE)', [9] in which 14 partner organizations investigated the potentials and risks of climate geoengineering (2012–2015). [10] [11]
Climate engineering is a term used for both carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management, also called solar geoengineering, when applied at a planetary scale. However, they have very different geophysical characteristics which is why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change no longer uses this overarching term. Carbon dioxide removal approaches are part of climate change mitigation. Solar geoengineering involves reflecting some sunlight back to space. All forms of geoengineering are not a standalone solution to climate change, but need to be coupled with other forms of climate change mitigation. Another approach to geoengineering is to increase the Earth's thermal emittance through passive radiative cooling.
Paul Jozef Crutzen was a Dutch meteorologist and atmospheric chemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 for his work on atmospheric chemistry and specifically for his efforts in studying the formation and decomposition of atmospheric ozone. In addition to studying the ozone layer and climate change, he popularized the term Anthropocene to describe a proposed new epoch in the Quaternary period when human actions have a drastic effect on the Earth. He was also amongst the first few scientists to introduce the idea of a nuclear winter to describe the potential climatic effects stemming from large-scale atmospheric pollution including smoke from forest fires, industrial exhausts, and other sources like oil fires.
Klaus Töpfer is a German politician (CDU) and environmental politics expert. From 1998 to 2006 he was executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry is a non-university research institute under the auspices of the Max Planck Society in Mainz, Germany. It was created as the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in 1911 in Berlin.
This is a list of climate change topics.
Solar geoengineering, or solar radiation modification (SRM), is a type of climate engineering in which sunlight would be reflected back to outer space to limit or offset human-caused climate change. There are multiple potential approaches, with stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) being the most-studied method, followed by marine cloud brightening (MCB). Other methods have been proposed, including a variety of space-based approaches, but they are generally considered less viable, and are not taken seriously by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. All geoengineering methods can have a rapid cooling effect on atmospheric temperature, but if the intervention were to suddenly stop for any reason, the cooling would soon stop as well. It is estimated that the cooling impact from SAI would cease 1–3 years after the last aerosol injection, while the impact from marine cloud brightening would disappear in just 10 days. Contrastingly, once any carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere and not removed, its warming impact does not decrease for a century, and some of it will persist for hundreds to thousands of years. As such, solar geoengineering is not a substitute for reducing greenhouse gas emissions but would act as a temporary measure to limit warming while emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced and carbon dioxide is removed.
Bio-geoengineering is a form of climate engineering which seeks to use or modify plants or other living things to modify the Earth's climate.
Hans Joachim "John" Schellnhuber is a German atmospheric physicist, climatologist and founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and former chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU).
William Lee Steffen was an American-born Australian chemist. He was the executive director of the Australian National University (ANU) Climate Change Institute and a member of the Australian Climate Commission until its dissolution in September 2013. From 1998 to 2004, he was the executive director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, a coordinating body of national environmental change organisations based in Stockholm. Steffen was one of the founding climate councillors of the Climate Council, with whom he frequently co-authored reports, and spoke in the media on issues relating to climate change and renewable energy.
Johan Rockström is a Swedish scientist, internationally recognized for his work on global sustainability issues. He is joint director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany, together with economist Ottmar Edenhofer. He is also Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam and Professor in Water Systems and Global Sustainability, Stockholm University.
The Deutsches Klima-Konsortium e. V. is located in Berlin, Germany, and represents the leading players of German climate and climate impact research encompassing 26 renowned research organisations. The federation is also an important international partner acting as a guidepost, strategic partner, project partner and information broker.
Ulrich "Uli" Pöschl is an Austrian chemist who was appointed Director of the newly founded Department of Multiphase Chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany on 1 October 2012.
Patrizia Nanz is a political scientist and an expert in public participation and democratic innovations. She has provided expertise to businesses, state agencies, and governments in various European countries.
Wolfgang Seiler is a German biogeochemist and climatologist. Seiler was Director of the Institute of Meteorology and Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and is a pioneer in basic research in biogeochemistry.
Meinrat O. Andreae, born in 1949 in Augsburg, is a German biogeochemist. Since 1987, he has worked as Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) in Mainz.
The Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) in Potsdam conducts research with the aim of investigating, identifying, and advancing development pathways for transformation processes towards sustainability in Germany and abroad. The Institute joined the Helmholtz Association in 2023 and is affiliated with the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Its research approach is transdisciplinary, transformative, and co-creative. The Institute cooperates with partners in science, political and administrative institutions, the business community, and civil society to develop solutions for sustainability challenges that enjoy broad public support. Its central research topics include the energy transition, climate change and socio-technical transformations, as well as sustainable governance and participation, and cultures of transformation in the Anthropocene. A strong network of national and international partners and a Fellow Programme supports the work of the Institute.
Gerald H. Haug is a German geologic climatologist, prize winner of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize and since 2007 he has a professorship at the ETH Zürich in Switzerland. In 2015 he became director of the Climate Geochemistry Department and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and since March 2020, he became the new President of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Johannes "Jos" Lelieveld is a Dutch atmospheric chemist. Since 2000, he has been a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and director of the Atmospheric Chemistry Department at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz. He is also professor at the University of Mainz and at the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia.
Julia Yvonne Schmale is a German environmental scientist. She is a specialist in the micro-physical makeup of the atmosphere, in particular aerosols and their interaction with clouds. She is a professor at EPFL and the head of the Extreme Environments Research Laboratory (EERL). She is a participant in the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expeditions.