Ulrike Lohmann | |
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| Born | 1966 [1] |
| Alma mater | Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | ETH Zurich |
| Thesis | Sensitivität des Modellklimas eines globalen Zirkulationsmodells der Atmosphäre gegenüber Änderungen der Wolkenmikrophysik (1996) |
Ulrike Lohmann is a climate researcher and professor for atmospheric physics at the ETH Zurich. She is known for her research on aerosol particles in clouds.
Lohmann comes from Kiel as the daughter of a teacher and a politician in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. [2] She did a volunteer year in an SOS Children's Village in Nigeria, and then studied ethnology and geography. [2] Inspired by environmental reports on climate change, she studied meteorology at the University of Mainz from 1988 to 1993. [2] [3] She received her doctorate in 1996 at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. [4] She initially worked as assistant professor and associate professor for atmospheric sciences at Dalhousie University. [3] She has been a full professor of atmospheric physics at the Institute for Atmosphere and Climate at ETH Zurich since 2004. [3]
Lohmann's research centers on the interactions between global warming, aerosols, and cloud formation. Her early research modeled the influence of cirrus clouds on climate, [5] which she continued in her use of the ECHAM model. [6] [7] Her research also considers the global indirect aerosol effects and the connection to climate change. [8] She also deals with the possibility of geoengineering by thinning cirrus clouds. [9] In the 2017 Science article, she notes "for the time being, cirrus cloud thinning should be viewed as a thought experiment that is helping to understand cirrus cloud–formation mechanisms". [9]
She is one of the lead authors on the chapters on Clouds and Aerosols in the fourth and fifth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), [10] and she shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to the IPCC reports. [11]
Lohmann supports the young people striking to draw attention to climate change, [2] and in 2019 she was one of the scientists signing on to a statement on the school protests for climate protection to draw attention to the climate crisis. [12]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)She lives on Lake Zurich, and her passions are endurance sports and rowing. [2]
Cirrus is a genus of high cloud made of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds typically appear delicate and wispy with white strands. Cirrus are usually formed when warm, dry air rises, causing water vapor deposition onto rocky or metallic dust particles at high altitudes. Globally, they form anywhere between 4,000 and 20,000 meters above sea level, with the higher elevations usually in the tropics and the lower elevations in more polar regions.
Cloud albedo is a measure of the albedo or reflectivity of a cloud. Clouds regulate the amount of solar radiation absorbed by a planet and its solar surface irradiance. Generally, increased cloud cover correlates to a higher albedo and a lower absorption of solar energy. Cloud albedo strongly influences the Earth's energy budget, accounting for approximately half of Earth's albedo. Cloud albedo is influenced by the conditions of cloud formation and variations in cloud albedo depend on the total mass of water, the size and shape of the droplets or particles and their distribution in space. Thick clouds reflect a large amount of incoming solar radiation, translating to a high albedo. Thin clouds tend to transmit more solar radiation and, therefore, have a low albedo. Changes in cloud albedo caused by variations in cloud properties have a significant effect on global climate, having the ability to spiral into feedback loops.
Global dimming is a decline in the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface. It is caused by atmospheric particulate matter, predominantly sulfate aerosols, which are components of air pollution. Global dimming was observed soon after the first systematic measurements of solar irradiance began in the 1950s. This weakening of visible sunlight proceeded at the rate of 4–5% per decade until the 1980s. During these years, air pollution increased due to post-war industrialization. Solar activity did not vary more than the usual during this period.
In atmospheric physics and climatology, radiative forcing is a concept used to quantify a change to the balance of energy flowing through a planetary atmosphere. Various factors contribute to this change in energy balance, such as concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols, and changes in surface albedo and solar irradiance. In more technical terms, it is defined as "the change in the net, downward minus upward, radiative flux due to a change in an external driver of climate change." These external drivers are distinguished from feedbacks and variability that are internal to the climate system, and that further influence the direction and magnitude of imbalance. Radiative forcing on Earth is meaningfully evaluated at the tropopause and at the top of the stratosphere. It is quantified in units of watts per square meter, and often summarized as an average over the total surface area of the globe.
Nephology is the study of clouds and cloud formation. British meteorologist Luke Howard was a major researcher within this field, establishing a cloud classification system. While this branch of meteorology still exists today, the term nephology, or nephologist is rarely used. The term came into use at the end of the nineteenth century, and fell out of common use by the middle of the twentieth. Recently, interest in nephology has increased as some meteorologists have begun to focus on the relationship between clouds and global warming, which is a source of uncertainty regarding "estimates and interpretations of the Earth’s changing energy budget."
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.
Joanna Dorothy Haigh is a British physicist and academic. Before her retirement in 2019 she was Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London, and co-director of the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment. She served as head of the department of physics at Imperial College London. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), and a served as president of the Royal Meteorological Society.
The Albrecht effect describes how a larger density of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), possibly from anthropogenic pollution, may increase cloud lifetime and hence increase the amount of solar radiation reflected from clouds. Because it does not directly interact with incoming or outgoing radiation, it has an indirect effect on climate.
Robert Jay Charlson was an American atmospheric scientist, climate scientist, pioneer in the fields of climate forcing and climate change, and coauthor of the CLAW hypothesis. Charlson is known for his research in atmospheric chemistry, aerosol physics, aerosol/cloud/climate interaction, aerosol and cloud instrumentation.
Cirrus cloud thinning (CCT) is a recent form of climate engineering. Cirrus clouds are high cold ice that, like other clouds, both reflect sunlight and absorb warming infrared radiation. However, they differ from other types of clouds in that, on average, infrared absorption outweighs sunlight reflection, resulting in a net warming effect on the climate. Therefore, thinning or removing these clouds would reduce their heat trapping capacity, resulting in a cooling effect on Earth's climate. This could be a potential tool to reduce anthropogenic global warming. Cirrus cloud thinning is an alternative category of climate engineering, in addition to solar radiation management and greenhouse gas removal.
The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) was a five-year scientific research program that investigated aspects of phytoplankton dynamics in ocean ecosystems, and how such dynamics influence atmospheric aerosols, clouds, and climate. The study focused on the sub-arctic region of the North Atlantic Ocean, which is the site of one of Earth's largest recurring phytoplankton blooms. The long history of research in this location, as well as relative ease of accessibility, made the North Atlantic an ideal location to test prevailing scientific hypotheses in an effort to better understand the role of phytoplankton aerosol emissions on Earth's energy budget.
Beate Gertrud Liepert is a professor at Bard College in the Hudson Valley of New York. Her research focuses on climate variability: inter-annual changes, centennial time scales, the water and energy cycles.
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.
Joyce Penner is an atmospheric scientist known for her research on climate change, especially on the impact of aerosols and clouds.
Patricia K. Quinn is an atmospheric chemist working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency's Pacific Marine Environmental Lab. She is known for her work on the impact of atmospheric aerosol particles on air quality and climate.
Trude Storelvmo is a Norwegian meteorologist who is a professor at the University of Oslo. She specializes in atmospheric science and studies the impact of aerosols and clouds on the climate of the Earth. She was awarded a European Research Council Starting Grant in 2018. She serves as editor-in-chief of Global and Planetary Change.
Glenn Edmond Shaw is an American scientist specializing in atmospheric physics, especially relating to global climate change and long-range transport of aerosol material. He is Emeritus Professor of Physics and Atmospheric Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a member of the scientific staff of the Geophysical Institute. He conducted research on global atmospheric transport of aerosols and feedback of biogenic aerosols on global climate. He and Kenneth Rahn did research on the sources and climatic effect of Arctic haze. He did pioneering work on the scientific concept of climate homeostasis through the sulfur cycle and atmospheric aerosol.
Colin Dermot O'Dowd is an Irish physicist and atmospheric scientist.
Joeri Rogelj is a Belgian climate scientist working on solutions to climate change. He explores how societies can transform towards sustainable futures. He is a Professor in Climate Science and Policy at the Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP) and Director of Research at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment, both at Imperial College London. He is also affiliated with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He is an author of several climate reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board for Climate Change.
Daniela N. Schmidt is a German earth scientist and professor at the University of Bristol. Her research investigates the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems. She is the lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability for Europe.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades
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