Oct. 12, 2007
Scripps climate scientist Ralph Keeling demonstrates for Al Gore how to take an atmospheric carbon dioxide sample Photo: Bob Ross |
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Al Gore and IPCC Share Nobel Peace Prize
Scripps scientists prominent in climate assessment
The Nobel Committee announced today that the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose roster of researchers and experts includes scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, and former vice president Al Gore.
The fourth IPCC assessment report, released in February, is the most authoritative depiction of the state of the planet in regards to global climate and its implications for the future. Richard Somerville, a distinguished professor at Scripps, was a coordinating lead author of the report. Professor Lynne Talley was a lead author of the chapter "Observations: Oceanic Climate Change and Sea Level" and Professor V. Ramanathan served as a review editor. Scripps's Jeff Severinghaus contributed as a reviewer and Scripps and UC San Diego Professor Mario Molina, a Nobel Laureate, also contributed as a review editor.
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, according to the report, as is now evident from increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level.
"The significance of the IPCC report is that it will be the definitive assessment of the science of climate change, designed to be policy-relevant but not policy-driven or policy-prescriptive," said Richard Somerville.
Scripps scientists have been involved in the IPCC process since its
inception in 1988. Scripps climate science has been on going for more than
fifty years.
The Nobel Committee cited Gore as one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians and an early proponent of the need to address climatic challenges facing the planet. In his Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," as well as a May visit to Scripps and UC San Diego, Gore highlighted the seminal climate change advances made by Scripps's Charles David Keeling and the influence of former Scripps Director Roger Revelle on Gore's perspective.
Regarding the Keeling Curve, the carbon dioxide monitoring record that launched the modern era of climate change research, Gore remarked during his May presentation: "This is the image that first enlightened me on the subject of global warming."
Scripps will mark the 50th anniversary of the Keeling Curve in March 2008.
Visit Birch Aquarium at Scripps's Feeling the Heat exhibit: http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/Exhibits/Feeling_the_Heat/
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