astronomy

Kirsten Zickfeld

Kirsten Zickfeld is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kirsten Zickfeld rather than just read about it. In short: Kirsten Zickfeld is a German climate physicist who is now based in Canada. She is a member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and was one of the authors on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15).Zickfeld completed a Master of Science degree in physics at the Free University of Berlin in 1998, followed by a doctorate in p…

Key takeaways

Kirsten Zickfeld belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kirsten Zickfeld to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kirsten Zickfeld from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kirsten Zickfeld is a German climate physicist who is now based in Canada. She is a member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and was one of the authors on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15).Zickfeld completed a Master of Science degree in physics at the Free University of Berlin in 1998, followed by a doctorate in physics at the University of Potsdam in 2004.

Research career Zickfeld completed a Master of Science degree in physics at the Free University of Berlin in 1998, followed by a doctorate in physics at the University of Potsdam in 2004. Afterwards, Zickfield conducted postdoctoral climate research at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the University of Victoria and the Canadian Center for Climate Modeling and Analysis. Since 2010, Zickfeld has been conducting research as a professor of climate science at the Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, British Columbia. Her research involves various aspects of climate change, including mitigation strategies such as negative emission technologies. She was one of two Canadian authors, and one of 91 authors, on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15). Zickfeld's research has been cited over 3,800 times, and has an h-index and i10-index of 30 and 44 respectively. She received a 2019 President’s Awards for Leadership in Sustainability from Simon Fraser University.

Selected bibliography Matthews, H. Damon, Nathan P. Gillett, Peter A. Stott, and Kirsten Zickfeld. "The proportionality of global warming to cumulative carbon emissions." Nature. 2009. Eby, M., K. Zickfeld, A. Montenegro, D. Archer, K. J. Meissner, and A. J. Weaver. "Lifetime of anthropogenic climate change: millennial time scales of potential CO2 and surface temperature perturbations." Journal of Climate. 2009. Zickfeld, Kirsten, Michael Eby, H. Damon Matthews, and Andrew J. Weaver. "Setting cumulative emissions targets to reduce the risk of dangerous climate change." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2009. Gillett, Nathan P., Vivek K. Arora, Kirsten Zickfeld, Shawn J. Marshall, and William J. Merryfield. "Ongoing climate change following a complete cessation of carbon dioxide emissions." Nature Geoscience. 2011.

The SR15 Report IPCC, 2018: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, H. O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J. B. R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M. I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, T. Waterfield (eds.)].

Report website, chapters I–V Summary for policymakers, 32 pp. Headline statements, 2 pp. Technical summary, 22 pp. FAQ, 24 pp. Glossary, 24 pp.

Notes

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kirsten Zickfeld

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kirsten Zickfeld claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kirsten Zickfeld before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kirsten Zickfeld ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kirsten Zickfeld

In research: Kirsten Zickfeld appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kirsten Zickfeld in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kirsten Zickfeld is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of Simon Fraser University, Atmospheric scientist stubs, Free University of Berlin alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kirsten Zickfeld outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kirsten Zickfeld in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kirsten Zickfeld means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kirsten Zickfeld out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kirsten Zickfeld in simple terms?

Why does Kirsten Zickfeld matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kirsten Zickfeld?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kirsten Zickfeld.