[asa] 2 American Scientists Win Prize

First, a couple of succinct comments. ~ Janice :)

<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769758/posts?page=10#10>10
Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences on Thursday named American
scientist Wallace S. Broecker as the 2006 prizewinner in geosciences.
Here is a quote from Dr. Broecker:

"My lifetime study of Earth's climate system has humbled me. I'm
convinced that we have greatly underestimated the complexity of this
system. The importance of obscure phenomena, ranging from those that
control the size of raindrops to those that control the amount of
water pouring into the deep sea from the shelves of the Antarctic
continent, makes reliable modeling very difficult, if not impossible. "

http://www.carleton.ca/~tpatters/teaching/climatechange/broecker/broecker.html
(11 of 13) [02/12/2003 10:05:30] Wallace S. Broecker, "Will Our Ride
into the Greenhouse Future be a Smooth One?" GSA Today 5/97

<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769724/posts?page=1#1>1
Dr Broecker wrote in part: "The climate record kept in ice and in
sediment reveals that since the invention of agriculture some 8000 yr
ago, climate has remained remarkably stable. By contrast, during the
preceding 100,000 yr, climate underwent frequent, very large, and
often extremely abrupt shifts. Furthermore, these shifts occurred in
lockstep across the globe. They seem to be telling us that Earth's
climate system has several distinct and quite different modes of
operation and that it can jump from one of these modes to another in
a matter of a decade or two. So far, we know of only one element of
the climate system which has multiple modes of operation: the oceans'
thermohaline circulation. Numerous model simulations reveal that this
circulation is quite sensitive to the freshwater budget in the
high-latitude regions where deep waters form. Perhaps the mode shifts
revealed in the climate record were initiated in the sea. This
discovery complicates predictions of the consequences of the ongoing
buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. If the major climate
changes of glacial time came as the result of mode shifts, can we be
certain that the warming will proceed smoothly? Or is it possible
that about 100 years from now, when our descendants struggle to feed
the 15 or so billion Earth inhabitants, climate will jump to a less
hospitable state. It is difficult to comprehend the misery that would
follow on the heels of such an
event!
http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/Publications/PDF_Papers/BroeckerWS1997.pdf

2 American Scientists Win Prize
ABC News ^ | Jan 18, 2007 | Unattributed
Posted on 01/18/2007 3:58:47 PM EST by Ben Mugged
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769724/posts

Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences on Thursday named American
scientist Robert Trivers the winner of the 2007 Craaford prize in
biosciences, while his countryman Wallace S. Broecker won the 2006
prize in geosciences.

The two scientists will receive the annual $500,000 prize from
Sweden's Queen Silvia at an April ceremony in Lund, in southern Sweden.

Broecker, a professor at Columbia University in Palisades, New York,
was honored for his research into the processes of climate changes
and the interaction between the atmosphere, the ocean ice and living
organisms. Trivers, a professor at Rutgers University in New
Brunswick, New Jersey, won for his work in explaining the social
behavioral patterns of animals.

The academy said it chose Broecker, 75, because of his "innovative
and pioneering research" in explaining how the ocean, atmosphere and
biosphere interact with the climate.

<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769758/posts>Global
Warming Dissenters Few At US Weather Meeting
<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769758//^http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2007-01-18T193032Z_01_N18480944_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-CLIMATE-DEBATE-DC.XML&WTmodLoc=SciHealth-C1-Headline-6>Reuters
^ | 1-18-2007 | Ed Srtoddard
Posted on 01/18/2007 5:07:32 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769758/posts

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Joe D'Aleo was a rare voice of dissent this
week at the American Meteorological Society's annual meeting in San Antonio.

D'Aleo, executive director of the International Climate and
Environmental Change Assessment Project, a group of scientists,
doesn't think greenhouse gas emissions are the major cause of global
warming and climate change.

Researchers who hold such contrary views do not appreciate being
lumped together with flat-Earthers. They are legitimate scientists
who question the mainstream, but they are a distinct minority.

"Greenhouse warming is real, but I think it is a relatively minor
player," D'Aleo said.

He claims other factors like solar activity and other natural causes
are probably playing a greater role in rising temperatures -- a
position that gets a mostly chilly reception from this crowd.

Several scientists and writers interviewed at the society's
conference, which ends on Thursday, stressed that most researchers
believe there is little scientific debate about the causes of global
warming. That does not mean there is a consensus.

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Fri Jan 19 01:42:15 2007