Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Nobel Peace Prize, 2007

Mario Molina and Veerabhadran Ramanathan at the COP16 climate conference in Cancun in 2010.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Thousands of scientists and policymakers around the world have contributed to the ongoing summaries of climate research and dozens of Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers have participated to varying degrees since the first report was issued in 1990.

The 2007 prize coincided with the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report, to which several Scripps researchers contributed. Richard Somerville, a distinguished emeritus professor at Scripps, served as a coordinating lead author of the report, physical oceanographer Lynne Talley was lead author of a report chapter. Climate researchers Veerabhadran Ramanathan and Mario Molina were review editors.

Somerville continues meteorological research at Scripps. In 2008, the American Meteorological Society published a new edition of his book “The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change.” Somerville has been active in the arena of communication of climate change science and its influence on environmental and energy policy.

Talley continues research on ocean circulation and teaching at Scripps and has become a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the Oceanography Society since taking part in the IPCC report.

Ramanathan continues to teach at Scripps and conduct research, currently focusing on the climate and societal benefits of reducing global warming agents such as soot, hydrofluorocarbons, and methane that remain in the atmosphere for a short time. Ramanathan also leads Project Surya, a campaign to replace homemade, highly polluting cookstoves widely used in the developing world with cleaner-burning stoves.

Ramanathan and Somerville in a dialogue on climate with the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

Molina remains affiliated with UC San Diego and in 2005 established the Molina Center for Energy and the Environment, a nonprofit organization concerned with environmental policy.

In April, Ramanathan and Somerville were selected to take part in a dialogue on climate when the Fourteenth Dalai Lama visited UC San Diego.