"We have a lot to gain from working together", prize winner says
The winner of the Mohn Prize 2022, Professor John E. Walsh, believes that Norway and Alaska have much to gain from close cooperation, because the two countries have many similarities.
"Norway and Alaska have a very similar climate history, the same temperatures, the same geography and the same industry. We have a lot to gain from collaborating even more closely than today", says John E. Walsh.
He is a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and was awarded the Mohn Prize 2022 on Monday afternoon during the Arctic Frontiers conference. He receives the award for his continuous leading role in creating a common understanding of how sea ice dynamics relate to ongoing changes, including extreme regional events, throughout the Arctic system.
Clouds can have a cooling effect
After the award, Walsh gave a short popular science lecture, in which he drew parallels between his own work and the research of Henrik Mohn, from whom the prize takes its name. In addition to being considered the founder of Norwegian meteorology, Mohn provided a number of polar expeditions (among them Nansen's Fram voyage) with meteorological equipment. Henrik Mohn was also the first director of the Meteorological Institute, and he was the great-uncle of Trond Mohn's father.
Walsh pointed out that Mohn, like himself, researched storms and clouds back in the 1860s.
"Henrik Mohn mentioned something very important, which may become even more important in the future, namely that clouds can cool down the climate. With climate change, we get wetter weather, and we hope that the clouds can have a cooling effect", says Walsh.
Groundbreaking research
It was Sami President Silje Karine Muotka who handed out the prize, after performing the poem "Muohtačalmmit" which means 'snowflake'.
"Walsh has done groundbreaking research on nature and the Arctic," says Muotka.
Publisert: 09.05.22