Mojib Latif

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Mojib Latif (2020)
Conversation between Holger Klein and Mojib Latif about his career and research.

Mojib Latif (born September 29, 1954 in Hamburg ) is a German meteorologist of Pakistani descent. He is a climate researcher , university professor and president of the German Society Club of Rome .

Scientific career

From 1961 to 1974 he went to school, which he completed at the Kaiser-Friedrich-Ufer grammar school in Hamburg with an Abitur . Latif studied business administration at the University of Hamburg from 1974 to 1976 . In 1976 he began his studies in meteorology and graduated in 1983 with a diploma . After several stays at institutions abroad which took place in Hamburg in 1987 doctorate at Klaus Hasselmann in oceanography u. a. on the weather phenomenon El Niño with the dissertation model-theoretical investigation of the low-frequency variability of the equatorial Pacific ocean circulation and in 1989 the habilitation for the subject oceanography.

Between 1983 and 2002, Latif was employed as a research assistant and then as a private lecturer at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg . Since 2003 he has been a professor at the former Institute for Oceanography and today's GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel at the Christian Albrechts University (CAU) in Kiel . Since 2007 he has also been a member of the Cluster of Excellence Ocean of the Future at Kiel University. He has also been a board member of the German Climate Consortium eV (DKK) since 2012 , its chairman since 2015, and president of the German Society Club of Rome.

His research areas are seasonal and interannual climate variability , decadal and century variability, anthropogenic influences on the climate and the development of models including analysis and comparison with observations. Its h-index is 87 (April 2020).

At various German television and radio stations, Mojib Latif is a frequent studio guest as an expert on global warming (“climate change”). For his research work and his ability to communicate science to the public, he received the German Environment Prize of the German Federal Environment Foundation in 2015 . He is a scientist "who creates knowledge, but who also communicates this knowledge in a broad way". Because of his public statements about global warming, Latif often receives mob emails from climate change deniers .

Research results and positions

Mojib Latif (2006)

In May 2008, a team of climate scientists led by Noel S. Keenlyside, including Latif, presented a study in the journal Nature , in which the possible temperature development up to 2025 was examined. According to this study, the average temperature for the years 2005 to 2015 could remain roughly the same or only slightly warmer than that of the decade from 2000 to 2010, which is the warmest decade so far since temperature records began in the 19th century. Accelerated warming could then occur again in the period from 2010 to 2020. This means that new heat records can only be expected from the 2010–2020 decade. The cause of the possibly stable temperatures over a number of years are short-term natural fluctuations in the climate, which overlay a long-term anthropogenic warming trend. A change in the meridional overturning circulation is assumed to be the concrete cause .

In some media outlets, such as the New Scientist , this has been reported as the announcement of a global slowdown coming in the next few decades. Latif himself contradicted this representation, among other things in an interview with Spektrumdirekt . The interruption in the warming trend only represents “a breathing space”, and global warming is by no means off the table. Before that, Latif had expressly distanced himself from the “ skeptics ” who “understand nothing about the physics of climate”. He had already expected that his statements about climate development “will be deliberately misunderstood by certain parties”.

The so-called decadal climate variability dealt with in the study, i.e. the development of the climate over one to two decades, is a controversially discussed research field.

Against the background of the flood disaster in Pakistan in 2010 and the forest and peat fires in Russia in 2010 , Latif warned that this was a "blueprint for what we will have to make friends with in the future". Climate change will lead to an accumulation of weather extremes with more drought on the one hand and extreme rainfall on the other.

In view of the drought and heat in Europe in 2018 , Latif criticized that global climate protection efforts were still far too low. Although the beginning of international climate policy was already in 1992, today there is still “de facto” “no climate protection, neither worldwide nor in Germany”. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, especially in the transport sector. In this context, he also criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel , who was "never really a climate chancellor", but often intervened against climate protection efforts, for example when it came to the auto industry. There is a lack of courage in Germany for a traffic turnaround . In addition, it is imperative to take “the dirtiest lignite power plants [...] off the grid as quickly as possible”, which is also possible “without any problems”, without the security of supply being adversely affected. It is a tragic development that climate protection has so little weight in current politics. If Germany continues the energy transition at the current "snail's pace", it will also miss its climate protection targets for 2030.

Personal

Mojib Latif was born in Hamburg and spent his childhood there - together with two brothers and a sister. His parents are both Pakistani. Latif is married to the Norwegian Elisabeth Latif; he has no children. Mojib Latif is a volunteer ambassador for the Climate Forest Foundation and has been President of the Club of Rome Germany since October 2017 . In 2017 he was a member of the 16th Federal Assembly . He lives in Schönberg (Holstein) .

honors and awards

Publication activity (selection)

Books

  • Do humans change the climate? City of Friedrichshafen, 1992, ISBN 3-926162-32-5 .
  • Heat records and flood of the century. The challenge of climate change. What we have to do now. Heyne, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-453-87832-9 ; Updated paperback edition: The Challenge of Climate Change. What we have to do now. ibid. 2007, ISBN 978-3-453-61503-8 .
  • Climate. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt 2004, ISBN 3-596-16125-8 .
  • Are we getting the climate out of sync? Background and forecasts. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-17276-4 .
  • Climate change and climate dynamics. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8252-3178-1 .
  • Why the polar bear needs a refrigerator: ... and other secrets of climate and weather research. Herder Verlag 2010, 176 pp., ISBN 978-3-451-30163-6 .
  • The end of the oceans. Why we won't survive without the seas. Herder Verlag 2014, 240 pages, ISBN 978-3-451-31237-3 .
  • Hot time. Full throttle into the climate catastrophe - and how we step on the brakes. Herder Verlag 2020, 224 pp., ISBN 978-3-451-38684-8 .

Papers in specialist journals

Editor of scientific journals

Audio CDs

  • I am the weather man. The profession of climate researcher. In: SWR2 : Did you know? Scientists explain the world to children. Episode 5. Terzio, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-89835-539-1 .
  • Earth system management. Climate change as a global challenge. Concept, direction and production: Klaus Sander. Supposé, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-932513-82-4 .

Web links

Commons : Mojib Latif  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Resonator podcast of the Helmholtz Association : Mojib Latif and the climate (episode 67, August 14, 2015)
  2. ↑ Former MPI-M scientist Mojib Latif wins German Environment Prize. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, November 8, 2015, accessed on September 20, 2019 .
  3. ^ A b German press agency : Names and news: Climate expert Latif now professor at the Institute for Marine Research , Die Welt (Axel Springer) from January 6, 2003
  4. ^ Board of the German Climate Consortium. German Climate Consortium , accessed on September 20, 2019 .
  5. ^ Mojib Latif new President of the German Society Club of Rome. German Society Club of Rome, October 23, 2017, accessed on February 20, 2019 .
  6. ^ Mojib Latif - Google Scholar Citations. Retrieved April 17, 2020 .
  7. ↑ DBU: “Setting the course in New York and Paris to secure the future of people on a stable planet” , September 22, 2015
  8. ↑ Gauck calls on the UN to “finally initiate what is necessary” for climate protection. In: Mittelstand-nachrichten.de. Retrieved November 9, 2015 .
  9. ^ Mojib Latif is mobbed by email . In: Kieler Nachrichten , November 17, 2017. Accessed December 2, 2017.
  10. ^ A b Noel S. Keenlyside et al .: Advancing decadal-scale climate prediction in the North Atlantic sector . In: Nature . tape 453 , 2008, p. 84–88 , doi : 10.1038 / nature06921 ( researchgate.net [PDF; 684 kB ]).
  11. ↑ a b Joe Romm: Exclusive interview with Dr. Mojib Latif, the man who confused the NY Times and New Scientist, the man who moved George Will and math-challenged Morano to extreme disinformation. In: Center for American Progress October 1, 2009 (English).
  12. ↑ Fred Pearce : World's climate could cool first, warm later. In: New Scientist , September 4, 2009 (English) and Paul Hudson: What happened to global warming? In: BBC News , October 9, 2009.
  13. ^ A b Daniel Lingenhöhl: A respite - nothing more . In: Spektrumdirekt , November 2, 2009 (interview).
  14. ↑ Michael Odenwald: Global warming is taking a break . In: Focus , June 16, 2008 (interview).
  15. ↑ Gavin Schmidt: Decadal predictions , September 28, 2009 on realclimate.org
  16. ↑ Martin Zagatta: "That didn't surprise me" - meteorologist on the current extreme weather conditions. Mojib Latif in conversation with Martin Zagatta . In: Deutschlandfunk , August 9, 2010 (interview).
  17. ↑ Nils Dietrich: The harbingers of climate change. In: RP Online. August 9, 2010, accessed September 20, 2019 .
  18. ↑ "The big SUVs in the city annoy me every day" . In: Die Welt , July 27, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  19. ↑ Climate protection - Latif accuses Merkel of inaction . In: ZDF today , July 28, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  20. ↑ Mojib Latif over heatwave "We have a situation that has never before dreamed" . In: Berliner Zeitung , July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  21. ↑ Mojib Latif in the Munzinger archive , accessed on October 7, 2011 ( beginning of article freely available)
  22. ↑ Prof. Dr. Mojib Latif - Head of Research Unit: Maritime Meteorology. GEOMAR - Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel, accessed on September 20, 2019 .
  23. ↑ List of Climate Forest Ambassadors from the Climate Forest Foundation
  24. ↑ Mojib Latif becomes the new president . In: Kieler Nachrichten , October 24, 2017. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  25. ↑ Frank-Walter Steinmeier elected Federal President . In: Die Zeit , February 12, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  26. ↑ University of Kiel | Mojib Latif receives Order of Merit from the State of Schleswig-Holstein. Retrieved January 15, 2018 .
  27. ↑ A life for climate research - Mojib Latif awarded a highly endowed research prize , communication from IFM-GEOMAR, March 27, 2009, accessed on September 21, 2015
  28. ↑ THESE ARE THE BAUM PRIZE WINNERS 2018. Accessed on January 3, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Henning, Joachim: Climate researcher Mojib Latif awarded environmental prize, https://www.wz.de/nrw/duesseldorf/klimaforscher-mojib-latif-mit-umweltpreis-ausgezeich_aid-36326199 , last accessed: February 2, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Latif, Mojib
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German meteorologist, climatologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH September 29, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg