- Wallace Smith Broecker
Wallace Smith Broecker ("Wally") (born 1931) is the Newberry Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at
Columbia University and a scientist at Columbia'sLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory .Biography
Broecker's areas of research include
Pleistocene geochronology ,radiocarbon dating andchemical oceanography , including oceanic mixing based on stable andradioisotope distribution. This included research on thebiogeochemical cycle s of the elementcarbon and on the record ofclimate change contained inpolar ice and ocean sediments.He attended Wheaton College and interacted with
J. Laurence Kulp and Paul Gast. Broecker then transferred toColumbia University . At Columbia, he worked at the Lamont Geological Observatory with W. Maurice Ewing and Walter Bucher.Broecker has authored over 400 journal articles and 7 books. He is perhaps best known for his discovery of the role played by the ocean in triggering the abrupt climate changes which punctuated glacial time- in particular, the development and popularization of the idea of a global "conveyer belt" linking the circulation of the global ocean. However, his contributions stretch far beyond the "conveyer"; his work is the foundation of carbon cycle science, and his applications of radiocarbon to paleoceanography are landmarks in the field. His work with chemical tracers in the ocean is integral to modern chemical oceanography; indeed, his textbook "Tracers in the Sea", authored with Tsung-Hung Peng, is still cited in the contemporary literature 25 years after its publication.
Dr. Broecker writes about his research, on mode changes in the
Thermohaline Circulation: "We have clear evidence that different parts of the earth's climate system are linked in very subtle yet dramatic ways. The climate system has jumped from one mode of operation to another in the past. We are trying to understand how the earth's climate system is engineered, so we can understand what it takes to trigger mode switches. Until we do, we cannot make good predictions about future climate change." [https://webcenter.ldeo.columbia.edu/people.nsf/571fc08d39383f1185256efc004fcb7e/85190ba5e1cfe7c685256ef300647df4?OpenDocument]Broecker is a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of theAmerican Geophysical Union and European Geophysical Union. He has received theCrafoord Prize inGeoscience [ [http://www.crafoordprize.se/prizesawarded.4.2f692b3510dbfce3396800010039.html Crawford prize in geoscience 2006] ] , theNational Medal of Science ,Maurice W. Ewing Medal of theAmerican Geophysical Union , theAlexander Agassiz Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, the Urey Medal of theEuropean Association for Geochemistry , [ [http://www.lmtg.obs-mip.fr/user/eag/urey.htm European Association for Geochemistry (EAG) ] ] theV.M. Goldschmidt Award from theGeochemical Society , [ [http://gs.wustl.edu/archives/gold.html Victor Moritz Goldschmidt Award ] ] theVetlesen Prize from theG. Unger Vetlesen Foundation , theWollaston Medal of theGeological Society of London , theRoger Revelle Medal of theAmerican Geophysical Union , theTyler Prize for Environmental Achievement from theUniversity of Southern California , theBlue Planet Prize fromThe Asahi Glass Foundation , and the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science [ [http://www.fi.edu/franklinawards/08/laureate_bf_earth-broecker.html Franklin Institute Laureate Award Page] ] from TheFranklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.In 1975, Dr. Broecker inadvertently coined the phrase
global warming when he published a paper titled: “Climate Change: Are we on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?” [ [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/189/4201/460] ] He has recently co-written an account of climate science with the science journalist, Robert Kunzig. This includes a discussion of the work of Broecker's Columbia colleague Klaus Lackner in capturing CO2 from the atmosphere - which Broecker believes must play a vital role in reducing emissions and countering global warming.In September 2008 Broecker was the recipient of the
Balzan Prize for outstanding achievement in science. His citation was made by Enric Banda (Research Professor of Geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences in Barcelona): “For his extraordinary contributions to the understanding of climate change through his discoveries concerning the role of the oceans and their interactions with the atmosphere, as well as the role of glacial changes and the records contained in ice cores and ocean sediments. His contributions have been significant in understanding both gradual and abrupt climate change”.
=Selected Books=* Citation
first1=Wallace S. | last1=Broecker | author1-link=Wallace S. Broecker
first2=Virginia M. | last2=Oversby
title=Chemical Equilibria in the Earth
pages=304
publisher=McGraw-Hill Education
isbn=0070079978
year=1971
* Citation
first1=Wallace S. | last1=Broecker | author1-link=Wallace S. Broecker
title=Chemical oceanography
pages=214
publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
isbn=0155064371
year=1974
* Citation
first1=Wallace S. | last1=Broecker | author1-link=Wallace S. Broecker
title=The glacial world according to Wally
publisher=Eldigio Press
year=1995
* Citation
first1=Wallace S. | last1=Broecker | author1-link=Wallace S. Broecker
title=Greenhouse puzzles: Keeling's world, Martin's world, Walker's world
publisher=Eldigio Press
year=1998
* Citation
first1=Wallace S. | last1=Broecker | author1-link=Wallace S. Broecker
title=Greenhouse puzzles
publisher=Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory ofColumbia University
year=1993
* Citation
first1=Wallace S. | last1=Broecker | author1-link=Wallace S. Broecker
title=How to Build a Habitable Planet
publisher=Eldigio Press
isbn=0961751126
year=1988
* Citation
first1=Wallace S. | last1=Broecker | author1-link=Wallace S. Broecker
title=Tracers in the Sea
publisher=Eldigio Press
isbn=096175110X
year=1982
* Citation
first1=Wallace S. | last1=Broecker | author1-link=Wallace S. Broecker
first2=Robert | last2=Kunzig
title=Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat--and How to Counter It
publisher=Hill and Wang, US/Profile Books, UK
isbn=080904501X (US), 978-1846688607 (UK)
year=2008References
External links
* [http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/1001/1001_feature.html Glaciers That Speak in Tongues and other tales of global warming, by Wallace S. Broecker]
* [http://www.cfellows.org/wally/default.aspx Publications by Wally Broecker available for download]
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