“An unusually hot summer today will be considered a cold one within 60 years.”
This much is certain: the earth is facing a profound climate change. Its severity, however, is not precisely predictable. What will matter above all, is whether mankind will succeed in significantly reducing greenhouse gas emission in the coming decades. Scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute are convinced that the international political goal of limiting global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius must be emphatically pursued. Their hope is a stabilization of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere at about 450 ppm (parts per million). To achieve this, global carbon dioxide emissions would have to be halved by 2050.
Needless to say, we have to prepare ourselves against dramatic changes. For your information and as a service for journalists, six senior scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, in brief interviews (text), give their views on the changing face of the earth.
Prof. Dr. Peter Lemke
How will climate change affect the world?
Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Gerdes:
Will the North pole be ice-free in summer?
Prof. Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner
Are the oceans becoming more acidic?
Prof. Dr. Hans-Wolfgang Hubberten
Will the permafrost siols in Siberia an Alaska thaw?
Prof. Dr. Karen Wiltshire
How is the North Sea changing?
Prof. Dr. Karin Lochte
Should changes in the polar regions be of interest to us?
The interview was realized by Frank Grotelüschen, science journalist in Hamburg, instructed by the Alfred Wegener Institute. The following texts may be used for publications. Our terms of use.
