Prof. John A. Church, Emeritus Professor at the University of New South Wales, Climate Change Research Centre, is the Prince Albert I Medal recipient 2023 for his outstanding contribution on sea level research and related new insights into climate change.
John Church is the pre-eminent authority on sea level change in the 20th and 21st centuries and its response to natural and human factors. After reconstructing the global sea level record back to the 1870s, he provided new insights into earth’s radiation budget and the oceans’ sequestration of anthropogenic heat. His work has been central to successive IPCC Working Group 1 reports and to the projection of sea level change as it will affect the 100 million people living within 1 m of present mean sea level.
The medal was presented to Prof. Church by IAPSO President, Prof. Trevor McDougall, on July 15, 2023 during the IAPSO Medal Ceremony, 15:30 – 17:00, room A4, City Cube, Level 1 during IUGG 2023, Berlin, Germany. On this occasion, Prof. Church delivered the Memorial Lecture entitled "What do we really know about 20th and 21st Century sea-level change?".
To promote the study of the oceans and the interactions that take place at its boundaries with the sea floor, coastal environment and atmosphere, through the use of physics, chemistry, mathematics and biogeochemisty.
Values
IAPSO gives importance to involving scientists and students from developing countries in oceanographic activities.