Stefan Rahmstorf (born 22 February 1960) is a German

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

and

climatologist Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...

. Since 2000, he has been a Professor of Physics of the Oceans at Potsdam University. He studied physical oceanography at

Bangor University Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...

and received his Ph.D. in

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

(1990). His work focuses on the role of

ocean current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of seawater generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, sh ...

s in

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

.Stefan Rahmstorf , Curriculum Vitae
/ref> He was one of the lead authors of the

IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ''Climate Change 2007'', the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was published in 2007 and is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific, technical and soci ...

Public role

Rahmstorf is a co-founder of the blog ''

RealClimate ''RealClimate'' is a commentary site (blog) on climatology. The site's contributors include climate scientists whose goal is to provide a response to developing stories and a context they feel is sometimes missing in mainstream commentary o ...

'', which has been described by ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' as one of the top-5 science blogs in 2006, and included among the 15 best environmental websites by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' in 2008. He also co-founded the German blog ''KlimaLounge''. ''KlimaLounge'' won the 3rd prize of the science blog award of 2013. He is a frequent contributor of articles on climate and climate change/

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

in the popular press, some of which are internationally syndicated via

Project Syndicate ''Project Syndicate'' is an international nonprofit media organization that publishes and syndicates commentary and analysis on a variety of global topics. All opinion pieces are published on the ''Project Syndicate'' website, and also distribu ...

. He writes a regular column in the German environmental magazine ''Zeo2'', and has published the children's science book ''Wolken, Wind und Wetter'' (''Clouds, Wind, and Weather'') on weather and climate. The book was selected as ''Environmental Book of the Month'' for January 2012 by the ''Deutsche Umweltstiftung''. In addition, it was later voted ''Environmental Book of the Year 2012''. Rahmstorf has commented on climate change and climate policy on TV and radio. He was portrayed as one of the world's 10 leading climate scientists by the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' in 2009. The ARD presented a portrait of Rahmstorf in their prime news magazine '' Tagesthemen'' when he received the ''Deutscher Umweltmedienpreis'' (''German Environmental Media Award'') in 2007.

Work

The University of Flensburg found that among all climate scientists from Germany, Rahmstorf published the largest number of studies which ranked amongst the most-cited in the scientific literature during the years 1994–2013. Rahmstorf was a member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) from 2004 till 2013.

Awards and honors

Alfred Wegener Medal
2024, awarded by the European Geosciences Union ''to honour a scientist who has achieved exceptional international standing in atmospheric, hydrological or ocean sciences'' *''Climate Communication Prize'' of the American Geophysical Union (2017). * Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2010) *Along with other authors of the IPCC AR4 report, he was honored by the award of the

2007 Nobel Peace Prize The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (founded in 1988) and United States former vice president, Al Gore (b. 1948) "for their efforts to build up and disseminate gr ...

to the IPCC, shared with

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

. *Honorary Fellow of the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

(2007) *German Environmental Media Award (''Deutscher Umweltmedienpreis''), for his work on scientific accurate reporting anthropogenic climate change and impacts (2007) *''Centennial Fellowship Award'' from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, research grant of $1 million (1999)

Selected publications

An overview of Rahmstorf's publications can be found at hi
Google Scholar
profile. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Stefan Rahmstorf's blog at ''KlimaLounge''

Personal website

Climate-science blog with contributions from Stefan Rahmstorf

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahmstorf, Stefan 1960 births Living people Fellows of the American Geophysical Union German climatologists German environmentalists German oceanographers Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead authors Victoria University of Wellington alumni Environmental bloggers Academic staff of the University of Potsdam German climate activists Climate communication Alumni of Bangor University