Climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf talks about his research on global sea level rise, the role of plantary waves in the atmosphere in relation to extreme weather events and the weakening of the Gulf Stream System in the North Atlantic. He also discusses the scientific consensus and the role of the denial industry in establishing doubt. Finally Rahmstorf talks about the role of the Paris Agreement in 2015, why we need to aim higher if we want to keep global temperature increase well below 2°C, and the catastrophic problems we will be faced with if we fail to do so.
Stefan Rahmstorf obtained his PhD in oceanography at Victoria University of Wellington in 1990. He has worked as a scientist at the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute, at the Institute of Marine Science in Kiel and since 1996 at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. His work focuses on the role of the oceans in climate change.
In 1999 Rahmstorf was awarded the $ 1 million Centennial Fellowship Award of the US-based James S. McDonnell foundation. Since 2000 he teaches Physics of the Oceans as a professor at Potsdam University. Rahmstorf served from 2004–2013 in the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) and was one of the lead authors of the 4th IPCC Assessment Report.
Dr. Rahmstorf has published over 100 scientific papers (30 in leading journals such as Nature, Science and PNAS) and co-authored four books. Available in English are Our Threatened Oceans (2009, with Katherine Richardson) and The Climate Crisis (2010, with David Archer).
An Earth101 interview.
