The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has now announced the Lead Authors for its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), and experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) fulfil prominent roles in this regard: Prof. Hans-Otto Pörtner, an ecophysiologist at the AWI, has been Co-Chair (with Prof. Debra Roberts (South Africa) of the IPCC’s Working Group II since 2016. In addition, Dr Björn Rost and Prof. Dieter Piepenburg of the AWI have now agreed to serve as Lead Authors for individual chapters of the Assessment Report.
The two Co-Chairs of Working Group II contribute to the success of the current, sixth IPCC cycle, in the course of which the three Working Groups will prepare their contributions to the main report, as well as three Special Reports. The synthesis report, slated for 2022, will complete the cycle.
Among the 263 experts from 65 nations preparing the Sixth Assessment Report on the risks and consequences of climate change and options for adaptation, are the biologist Dr Björn Rost and the benthic ecologist Prof. Dieter Piepenburg, both from the AWI.
Dieter Piepenburg is one of 17 authors investigating the European region. The benthic ecologist is an expert on ecosystem functions and previously served as a reviewer for an IPCC Report. According to Piepenburg, “I’m delighted to be involved; it’s important to me that scientific findings can be made available to guide political decision-making, thanks to the established and trusted Assessment Reports.”
![[Translate to English:] Björn Rost](/fileadmin/_processed_/0/3/csm_BjoernRost_272bc58cab.jpg "Björn Rost")
Björn Rost is one of 15 authors for Chapter 3, which focuses on “The Ocean, Coastal Ecosystems and their Services”. At the Alfred Wegener Institute, the biologist heads the working group “Phytochange”, the goal of which is to describe, understand and predict the responses of marine phytoplankton to a combination of stress factors, e.g. the acidification and warming of the ocean. In this regard, the spotlight is on the region most intensively affected by climate change – the Arctic Ocean – , where the group is monitoring processes at scales ranging from the molecular to the ecological.
While the author teams for the main report are forming, drafts of the three IPCC Special Reports are already being reviewed and revised. Working Group II is responsible for the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), which will become available in September 2019. In early May 2018, external experts will begin reviewing the first draft.
The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR15) will be published in October 2018, while the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) will follow in August 2019. Working Group II will also make major contributions to these Reports.
“Until 2022, the IPCC authors will be analysing the latest findings on the physical science basis of climate change, its impacts on nature and society, as well as options we have for mitigating climate change and adapting to consequences that cannot be avoided anymore,” Prof Hans-Otto Pörtner explains. “With the three Special Reports in addition to the three contributions to the main report, this cycle is especially ambitious. But our author teams are well-prepared and highly motivated. Our findings will become available in time for the first ‘Global Stocktake’, which will assess the progress towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement , and could also have further consequences for international climate policy.”