Dr. Anastassia Makarieva is a nuclear physcist using her knowledge of physics to study atmospheric processes involving wind and water and regulating climate. The "atomic bombs" that she looks are are category 5 hurricanes and why these become weather systems that are completely out of control. In contrast, forests serve to regulate and control the climate in the air above them and help convert what could be extreme physical forces into more controlled systems that provides regular rain, more akin to the controlled heat released by nuclear energy (the metapher is hers). 

Background: Dr. Makarieva graduated from Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, Faculty of Physics and Mechanics, in 1996 and obtained her PhD in atmospheric physics from St. Petersburg State University in 2000. Since 1996, she has been working in the Theoretical Physics Division of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute investigating the life-environment interactions in the framework of the biotic regulation concept founded by Prof. Victor Gorshkov.

In co-authorship with V.G. Gorshkov, Anastassia formulated the concept of the biotic pump of atmospheric moisture, highlighting key ecological feedbacks on atmospheric moisture transport (2007) and, in cooperation with an international team of colleagues, demonstrated the existence of life’s metabolic optimum (broadly universal rate of energy consumption across life’s kingdoms) (2008). Combining theoretical work with field observations, Anastassia spent over sixty months doing forest research in the Russian wilderness. Her current research interests focus on deepening the physical understanding of ecosystem feedbacks on the water cycle and moisture transport.

She is a recipient of the 2008 L’Oréal-UNESCO prize “For Women in Science” and is currently (since 2021) an Anna Boyksen fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, where her research interests focus on deepening the physical understanding of ecosystem feedbacks on the water cycle and moisture transport.

Dr. Makarieva wrote: "The concept of biotic regulation is inherently interdisciplinary and builds, among other things, on research into the energetics of life. Much of that work preceded the biotic pump, which has since become our main focus. Yet understanding how natural ecosystems keep Earth habitable, and how we can avoid interfering, cannot be achieved within the limits of any single discipline."

As a scientific researcher at the Technical University of Munich, Institute for Advanced Study, Dr. Makarieva looked at drought mitigation through ecosystem restoration. She posted this about her work there:

Plant transpiration influences atmospheric processes locally, regionally and globally. Natural forest ecosystems have evolved a number of mechanisms to stabilize the terrestrial water cycle. While our understanding of them remains incomplete, the direct anthropogenic destruction and climate change are disrupting these stabilizing feedbacks. Conversely, preservation and restoration of natural ecosystems bear the promise of enhancing the water cycle resilience, including protection from extremes like droughts, floods and violent winds, as well as avoidance of tipping points towards aridity. The focus group will explore theoretical problems of how forest-mediated processes affect atmospheric dynamics, including scaling up individual plant processes to synoptically relevant scales. The research will combine TUM’s technical and scientific excellence with the knowledge of climate-regulating functions of least disturbed forest landscapes, most of which in Eurasia are located within Russian borders. The goal is to present quantitative evidence about the importance of natural forests for water-related aspects of regional and global climate stability. This information is required for informed stewardship towards global environmental resilience. 

Publications & Interviews

Dr. Makarieva has posited theories that are not yet mainstream but which do help to explain much about why global temperatures are rising well beyond the expectation of climate scientists relative to the amount of CO2 being added to the atmosphere.  In order to understand her theories, you will need to read her writing and hear her interviews, some of which we have listed below:

• Google Scholar Citations:  Anastassia Makarieva
• Biotic Regulation and Biotic Pump (substack)
  • On the scientific essence of Dr. James Hansen's recent appeal
  • Forests, Water and Climate: Time for Reconceptualization, which links to a recorded presentation given by Dr. Makarieva on this topic.
  • Assessing changes in atmospheric circulation due to ecohydrological restoration: How can global climate models help?
• YouTube: A recorded interview and podcast with Investing in Regenerative Agriculture and Food: Healthy forests invest their capital to create their own rain
• Science Magazine: Weather Makers: Forests supply the world with rain. A controversial Russian theory claims they also make wind, by Fried Pearce, June 18, 2020
• Mongabay: Forest modeling misses the water for the carbon: Q&A with Antonio Nobre & Anastassia Makarieva, by Judith Schwartz, Feb. 7, 2023

Sources

• LinkedIn, Anastassia Makarieva
• Substack, Biotic Regulation and Biotic Pump
• TUM-IAS, Anastassia M. Makarieva