Biography

First published in WIKIPEDIA, the free encyclopedia, 2013 (see NOTE at the right & LINK)

At the age of 16 he started as decks boy on the tall sailing ship PAMIR, and received a Master Mariner license in July 1964 to become ship master of MS BOA NOVA in 1968. In the meantime he had enrolled as a law student at Hamburg of University, passing the 1^st and two years later the 2nd State Law Examination in November 1973, thereon received admission to act as attorney of law in courts, and four years later was awarded “Dr. juris.” by the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. 

From 1976 and 1985 he ran a law office in Hamburg, when accepting two long term assignments in Saudi Arabia as lawyer and international consultant, followed by other consultancies in several countries and regions until 2008.

In 1988 his text book about the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was published (see 'Books' below & HERE); followed by research work on Climate Change (1).

Bernaerts’ climate work focused on raising the awareness of the importance of better understanding the oceans to minimize the risk of anthropogenic impact on the marine environment, which may have a profound impact on climate change.

He discovered that the major climatic shifts since 1850 can be linked to naval war activities during World War I, namely the warming of the Northern Hemisphere from about 1920 to 1939 (2), as well as global cooling from 1940 to mid 1970s, which started with three extraordinary harsh winters in Europe since December 1939 (3). In many regions they were the coldest for more than 100 years, as analysed in several books since 2006 (see Works).

In addition he queries the scientific reliability of commonly used climate definitions by WMO, UNFCCC and others, reasoning:

As the terms weather and climate belong to the laymen’s sphere, it is doubtful whether science should use them for their terminology. It would not only be difficult, if not impossible, but presumably remain a source of confusion. (4)

In a Letter to the Editor, Nature (1992, “Climate Change”, 360, p. 292) he suggested defining: ‘Climate as the continuation of the oceans by other means’.

 Books

“Bernaerts' Guide to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”; 1988, Fairplay/Coulsdon/UK, ISBN 1-870093-15-1; http://www.bernaerts-sealaw.com; reprint by Trafford, 2006 /Canada (now USA), ISBN 1.4120-7665-x.  >>>Continue  for more details  >>>>

“Climate Change & Naval War”, 2005, Trafford/CA, p. 325; ISBN 1-4120-4846-X;
http://www.2030climate.com/a2005/2005.html

“How Spitsbergen Heats the World”, 2009, BoD/Norderstedt, p. 107, ISBN 978-3-8370-9524-1; and “Arctic Heats Up – Spitsbergen 1919-1939”, 2009, Universe/Bloomington/USA, ISBN 978-1-4401-4087-7; http://www.arctic-heats-up.com/

“Failures of Meteorology! Unable to prevent climate change and world wars? Oceans change climate!” , 2012, BoD/Nordestedt, p. 220, 2012; ISBN 9 783844 812848. http://www.seaclimate.com/_ToC/_ToC.html

(1)  “Conditions for the protection of the global climate” 1992, p.52, GKSS Research Center Geesthacht, ISSN 0934-9804; HERE 

(2)  “Did the North Atlantic play a role in the tumultuous weather conditions and the Indian drought in 1918?” Loyola Institute of Frontier Energy, Chennai/India, 2010;  in PDF;  HERE

(3) “A Large-Scale Experiment with Climate – The Extreme Winter of 1939/40 and Climate Research –“, 2008, p-10; ditto (right column) http://www.oceanclimate.de

 (4)  “Is the term ‚climate’ too unspecific for a fruitful discussion?” 2010, PACON Conference./Hilo, Hawaii, p.10; http://www.whatisclimate.com/is-the-term-climate-too-unspecific.html