Bjorn B. Stevens To What Extent Do Aerosol Particles in the Atmosphere Mask the Effects of Greenhouse Gases?
Bjorn B. Stevens is Director of the Department for the Atmosphere in the Earth System, at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and teaches at the University of Hamburg. Previously, Stevens was a Professor of Dynamic Meteorology at the University of California, Los Angeles (USA). Stevens has made major contributions to the research on atmospheric convection in the climate system. He was awarded the Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award of the American Meteorological Society, and is an associate fellow at various institutions, including the Alexander von Humboldt Society.
Area of Research
Meteorology, Atmospheric Science
since 2009
Professor
University of Hamburg (Universität Hamburg)
since 2008
1999-2011
Professor
University of California
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
1998-1999
1996-1998
Post-Doctoral Fellow
National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA
1996
PhD in Atmospheric Science
Colorado State University
1990
Master in Electrical Engineering
Iowa State University
Prizes
- The Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award of the American Meteorological Society (2002)
Fellowships
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (1998-1999)
© Maximilian Dörrbecker
Max Planck Society
Hamburg, Germany"The Max Planck Society is Germany's most successful research organization. Since its establishment in 1948, no fewer than 18 Nobel laureates have emerged from the ranks of its scientists, putting it on a par with the best and most prestigious research institutions worldwide. The more than 15,000 publications each year in internationally renowned scientific journals are proof of the outstanding research work conducted at Max Planck Institutes – and many of those articles are among the most-cited publications in the relevant field." (Source)
Institute
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
"The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) is an internationally renowned institute for climate research. Its mission is to understand Earth's changing climate. Scientists at the MPI-M investigate what determines the sensitivity of the Earth system to perturbations such as the changing composition of its atmosphere, and work toward establishing the sources and limits of predictability within the Earth system. For that purpose MPI-M develops and analyses sophisticated models of the Earth system. Targeted in-situ measurements and satellite observations complement the model simulations." (Source)
Map
Since the rise of industrialization more and more greenhouse gases are being emitted into the atmosphere and as a result the earth’s climate is warming. It is known that part of the temperature rise is balanced by aerosol particles in the atmosphere – partly also emitted by human activity. The extent of that balancing however is unknown. As BJORN B. STEVENS explains in this video, the researchers used a new approach to estimate how strong this effect actually is: they used a top down perspective and asked if the assumptions made in earlier studies are consistent with current observations. Their findings show that the cooling effect of aerosol particles is not as large as previously calculated. Most significantly, this means that we do not have to fear an increase of global warming due to cleaner air.
