Climate Science: Acknowledging Its Importance.
A scientific approach to approach the climate crisis is the need of the hour. The scientific community, especially climate scientists will have a lot to offer. The noble prize in the field will help in further mainstreaming climate science as a discipline.
Climate change is the real crisis facing the world and humanity today. Until quite recently, in the 2000s, there were debates even amongst the scientific communities about the causes of global warming. Some speculated that natural variability caused it others viewed it as human-induced and anthropogenic. But the debate came to an end when the climate models based on scientific credentials prepared by scientists like Manabe, Hasselman established it as anthropogenic. Even the Sixth assessment report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) unequivocally supports this finding. Had there not been such scientific efforts to understand the complex models, threats like global warming would have silently grown posing severe existential crises to humans without us noticing them. The prestigious noble prize in physics this year (2021) has been conferred collectively upon Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselman, and Giorgio Parisi from the US, Germany, and Italy respectively.
IMAGE SOURCE- CNN
This is the first that the prize has been conferred upon climate scientists. climate science until quite recently was not given due importance even in scientific circles, probably because of inaccurate weather forecasts, but now it has become a crucial field of research, investigation, and inquiry. As climate change poses an ugly form, scientific temperament to mitigate and manage the crisis becomes pertinent. The Climate crisis is real and it is evident from the several events happening around us. Extreme weather conditions, melting of glaciers, frequent floods, severe droughts, increased frequency and intensity of cyclones, hurricanes, forest fires, biodiversity loss, coral bleaching, coastline depletion, rising sea level, depleting groundwater, the rise of pandemics and other health hazards are some of its manifestations. The selection of the climate scientists for the prize is further the acknowledgment of the significant threats hovering around.
IMAGE SOURCE - The Guardian
Manabe is a climate scientist from the US and has pioneered the understanding of climate change and global warming through climate modeling. He established that the global rise in temperature is being driven by the rising CO2 emissions. Eventually the year, 1988 became the hottest with frequent droughts in the United States. As a result, the world came forward to mitigate the menace of increasing eath's surface temperature and the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was formed in 1989 under United Nations. IPCC provides the information to the government at all levels with scientific information to formulate climate policies. Since then numerous programs and schemes have been run at local and global levels for the adoption of Climate-friendly industrial and domestic policies. From controlling the depletion of the ozone layer to the adoption of renewable energy, global efforts have been rampant in the past few decades. The COP-21 Paris Climate Agreement 2015, in which countries have agreed to cut down greenhouse house gas emissions so that the global rise in temp remains well below 2 0c of pre-industrial finds its roots in the works of Manabe and Hsseleman.
Hasselman hails from Germany. He is an oceanographer and a climate scientist and has enabled the field of attribution science ( a field of research looking into what might explain extreme weather events). He is famous for his work on fingerprints (evidence that something is responding to global warming, for instance, the rise in sea level due to the global rise in temperature is ocean level fingerprint). He further propagated the research of Manabe and put efforts to critically understand the global climate changes.
IMAGE SOURCE- UN.org
Giorgio is an Italian Scientist, and he has been applauded for his efforts to understand complex systems (systems that have high randomnesses like weather and Climate)
The world is coming closer to collaborate, coordinate and combat environmental hazards. Efforts are constantly being put by civil societies, governments, and local communities to mitigate and manage the impact of climate on health, economy, and biodiversity. A scientific approach to approach the issue will carry a sustainable response and the scientific community, especially climate scientists will have a lot to offer. The noble prize in the field will help in further mainstreaming climate science as a discipline.
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