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 an umbrella term for both carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation modification, when applied at a planetary scale. However, these two processes have very different characteristics. For this reason, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change no longer uses this overarching term. Carbon dioxide removal approaches are part of climate change mitigation. Solar radiation modification is the reflection of some sunlight back to space. Some publications place passive radiative cooling into the climate engineering category. This technology increases increases the Earth's solar reflectance and it's thermal emittance in the atmospheric window. The media tends to use climate engineering also for other technologies such as glacier stabilization, ocean liming, and iron fertilization of oceans. The latter would modify carbon sequestration processes that take place in oceans.
Paul Jozef Crutzen was a Dutch meteorologist and atmospheric chemist. He and Mario Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 for their 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 was 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.
Solar radiation modification (SRM), also known as solar radiation management, or solar geoengineering, refers to a range of approaches to limit global warming by increasing the amount of sunlight that the atmosphere reflects back to space or by reducing the trapping of outgoing thermal radiation. Among the multiple potential approaches, stratospheric aerosol injection is the most-studied, followed by marine cloud brightening. SRM could be a temporary measure to limit climate-change impacts while greenhouse gas emissions are reduced and carbon dioxide is removed, but would not be a substitute for reducing emissions. SRM is a form of climate engineering.
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). Since 1 December 2023, Schellnhuber is the Director General of IIASA.
Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) is a proposed method of solar geoengineering to reduce global warming. This would introduce aerosols into the stratosphere to create a cooling effect via global dimming and increased albedo, which occurs naturally from volcanic winter. It appears that stratospheric aerosol injection, at a moderate intensity, could counter most changes to temperature and precipitation, take effect rapidly, have low direct implementation costs, and be reversible in its direct climatic effects. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes that it "is the most-researched [solar geoengineering] method that it could limit warming to below 1.5 °C (2.7 °F)." However, like other solar geoengineering approaches, stratospheric aerosol injection would do so imperfectly and other effects are possible, particularly if used in a suboptimal manner.
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. Rockström is also chief scientist at Conservation International. He is Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam and Professor in Water Systems and Global Sustainability, Stockholm University.
Michael Calvin MacCracken, has been chief scientist for climate change programs with the Climate Institute in Washington, D.C., since 2002; he was also elected to its board of directors in 2006.
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 promoting development pathways that engender environmentally sustainable practices internationally. The Institute was integrated into the Helmholtz Association in 2023 and now forms part of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Its research approach is transdisciplinary. The RIFS cooperates with partners in science, political and administrative institutions, business groups, and the wider civil society to develop solutions to sustainability challenges. Its research topics include the energy transition, climate change, socio-technical transformations, sustainable governance, and cultures of transformation in the Anthropocene. A network of both national and international partners and the 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.