Lexington, Mass., November 19, 2007 — Last month the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for their work in studying, identifying and communicating climate issues and concerns to people around the world. Over 2,500 scientists from around the globe were commended for their involvement in climate change over the last 20 years. Included in this group are AER scientists who contributed to the understanding of the impacts of aircraft emissions on the atmosphere. AER atmospheric chemists Debra Weisenstein and N. Dak Sze, in conjunction with former AER scientists Malcolm Ko, Michael Danilin and Jose Rodriguez, studied the impact of nitrogen and sulfur emissions from aircraft on global ozone and climate. AER's capability to model sulfuric acid aerosol microphysics played a major role in the evaluation of potential aircraft sulfur emissions in the stratosphere.
About AER: AER has been a leader in advanced science for research and industrial applications since 1977. Our scientists encompass a broad range of expertise across disciplines engaging science and technology to study oceans, the earth and its atmosphere, space and distant planets. Our staff has contributed to breakthrough technologies in remote sensing, weather forecasting, and global change science in the form of radiative transfer model development, remote sensing innovation, end-to-end sensor simulation and performance modeling, environmental model and space weather applications, and weather impacts on sensor technologies. Applications developed at AER are operational at major civilian and military centers around the world. Our forecasts are used by military pilots, broadcasters, energy traders and financial institutions. In addition to our Lexington, Massachusetts headquarters, AER has offices in Colorado, Virginia, Nebraska and California.