Gavin Schmidt

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Gavin Schmidt
Gavin Schmidt.jpg
Dr. Gavin A. Schmidt
NationalityBritish [1]
EducationBA (Oxon); PhD (London), both in mathematics
Alma mater Jesus College, Oxford
University College London.
Occupation(s)Climate modeller, Climatologist
Employer Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Website Schmidt's homepage

Gavin A. Schmidt is a British climatologist, climate modeler and Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, and co-founder of the award-winning climate science blog RealClimate. [2]

Contents

Work

He was educated at The Corsham School, earned a BA (Hons) in mathematics at Jesus College, Oxford, and a PhD in applied mathematics at University College London. [3] Schmidt worked on the variability of the ocean circulation and climate, using general circulation models (GCMs). He has also worked on ways to reconcile paleo-data with models. He helped develop the GISS ocean and coupled GCMs to improve the representation of the present day climate, while investigating their response to climate forcing. [4]

NASA named Schmidt to head GISS in June 2014. He stepped into the position left vacant after the retirement of long-time director James E. Hansen, becoming the third person to hold the post. [5] In an interview with Science News, Schmidt said that he wanted to continue the institute's work on climate modeling and to expand its work on climate impacts and astrobiology. [6]

Research

His main research interest is climate variability, both its internal and the response to climate forcing, investigated via ocean-atmosphere general circulation models. He also uses these to study palaeoclimate by working on methods to compare palaeo-data with model output. Schmidt helps to develop the GISS ocean and coupled GCMs (ModelE). This model has been "isotopically enabled" to carry oxygen-18 tracers, allowing the model to simulate the pattern of δ18O observed in ice cores, cave records and ocean sediments. [2]

Media and outreach

Schmidt has appeared on various occasions in the media, often he is asked about his expertise on climate related study findings, current events or gives lectures. [2] Schmidt worked with the American Museum of Natural History, the College de France, and the New York Academy of Sciences for education and outreach. [3] Schmidt and eight other colleagues founded in 2004 the RealClimate blog. The blog provides critical commentary on climate science with the scope on outreach to the public and for journalists. [2] [7] Additionally, the blog features frequent guest posts by experts in their field. Articles and commentary have defended scientific research against allegations made about the hockey stick graph. [8] During the 2009-2010 Climatic Research Unit email controversy he strongly defended the scientists involved, including Michael E. Mann and Phil Jones. Journalist Fred Pearce noted, "Schmidt wrote that the emails merely showed how scientists interact in private", and that "Gravity isn't a useful theory because Newton was a nice man." [9]

Schmidt was EarthSky Science Communicator of the Year in 2011. [10]

Awards

In October 2011, the American Geophysical Union awarded Schmidt the inaugural Climate Communications Prize, for his work on communicating climate-change issues to the public. The award news release noted his outreach work including co-founding and contributing to the RealClimate blog. [11] [12] He was a contributing author [13] of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); the work of the IPCC, including the contributions of many scientists, was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Schmidt was named in November 2004 as one of Scientific American's "Top 50 Research Leaders" of the year. [14]

Publications

Schmidt has published over 100 studies in peer-reviewed journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Science , and Nature , on various climate related topics. [3] [15]

He is the co-author, with Joshua Wolfe, of Climate Change: Picturing the Science (2009), which has a foreword by Jeffrey D. Sachs. The book combines images of the effects of climate change with scientific explanations. [16]

His Erdős number is four. [17]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate</span> Statistics of weather conditions in a given region over long periods

Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological variables that are commonly measured are temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, and precipitation. In a broader sense, climate is the state of the components of the climate system, including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and biosphere and the interactions between them. The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, longitude, terrain, altitude, land use and nearby water bodies and their currents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate model</span> Quantitative methods used to simulate climate

Numerical climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the important drivers of climate, including atmosphere, oceans, land surface and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the climate system to projections of future climate. Climate models may also be qualitative models and also narratives, largely descriptive, of possible futures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General circulation model</span> Type of climate model

A general circulation model (GCM) is a type of climate model. It employs a mathematical model of the general circulation of a planetary atmosphere or ocean. It uses the Navier–Stokes equations on a rotating sphere with thermodynamic terms for various energy sources. These equations are the basis for computer programs used to simulate the Earth's atmosphere or oceans. Atmospheric and oceanic GCMs are key components along with sea ice and land-surface components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Instrumental temperature record</span> In situ measurements that provide the temperature of Earths climate system

The instrumental temperature record is a record of temperatures within Earth's climate based on direct measurement of air temperature and ocean temperature, using thermometers and other thermometry devices. Instrumental temperature records are distinguished from indirect reconstructions using climate proxy data such as from tree rings and ocean sediments. Instrument-based data are collected from thousands of meteorological stations, buoys and ships around the globe. Whilst many heavily-populated areas have a high density of measurements, observations are more widely spread in sparsely populated areas such as polar regions and deserts, as well as over many parts of Africa and South America. Measurements were historically made using mercury or alcohol thermometers which were read manually, but are increasingly made using electronic sensors which transmit data automatically. Records of global average surface temperature are usually presented as anomalies rather than as absolute temperatures. A temperature anomaly is measured against a reference value. For example, a commonly used baseline period is the time period 1951-1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radiative forcing</span> Difference between solar irradiance absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back to space

Radiative forcing is a concept used in climate science to quantify the change in energy balance in the Earth's atmosphere caused by various factors, such as concentrations of greenhouse gases, aerosols, and changes in solar radiation. In more technical terms, it is "the change in the net, downward minus upward, radiative flux due to a change in an external driver of climate change." These external drivers are distinguished from feedbacks and variability that are internal to the climate system, and that further influence the direction and magnitude of imbalance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hansen</span> American physicist (born 1941)

James Edward Hansen is an American adjunct professor directing the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is best known for his research in climatology, his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming, and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change. In recent years, he has become a climate activist to mitigate the effects of global warming, on a few occasions leading to his arrest.

Stephen McIntyre is a Canadian mining exploration company director, a former minerals prospector and semi-retired mining consultant whose work has included statistical analysis. He is the founder and editor of Climate Audit, a blog which analyses and discusses climate data. He is a critic of the temperature record of the past 1000 years and the data quality of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He has made statistical critiques, with economist Ross McKitrick, of the hockey stick graph which shows that the increase in late 20th century global temperatures is unprecedented in the past 1,000 years.

Drew Shindell is a physicist and a climate specialist and professor at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. He is listed as an ISI Highly Cited Researcher. He was a chapter lead of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) October 8, 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C as well as on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report in 2013. He has testified on climate issues before both houses of the US Congress, at the request of both parties. His research concerns natural and human drivers of climate change, linkages between air quality and climate change, and the interface between climate change science and policy. He has been an author on more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and received awards from Scientific American, NASA, the EPA, and the NSF.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goddard Institute for Space Studies</span> New York City-based NASA laboratory

The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center affiliated with the Columbia University Earth Institute. The institute is located at Columbia University in New York City. It was named after Robert H. Goddard, American engineer, professor, physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EdGCM</span>

The Educational Global Climate Model or EdGCM is a fully functional global climate model (GCM) that has been ported for use on desktop computers. It operates through a graphical user interface and is integrated with a relational database and scientific visualization utilities, all of which aim at helping improve the quality of teaching and understanding of climatology by making real-world research experiences more accessible. EdGCM is designed to permit teachers and students to conduct in-depth investigations of past, present and future climate scenarios in a manner that is essentially identical to the techniques used by national and international climate research organizations.

Plows, Plagues and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate is a 2005 book published by Princeton University Press and written by William Ruddiman, a paleoclimatologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia. He has authored and co-authored several books and academic papers on the subject of climate change. Scientists often refer to this period as the "Anthropocene" and define it as the era in which humans first began to alter the Earth's climate and ecosystems. Ruddiman contends that human induced climate change began as a result of the advent of agriculture thousands of years ago and resulted in warmer temperatures that could have possibly averted another ice age; this is the early anthropocene hypothesis.

Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Coupled Model is a coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) developed at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in the United States. It is one of the leading climate models used in the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, along with models developed at the Max Planck Institute for Climate Research, the Hadley Centre and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

ECHAM is a general circulation model (GCM) developed by the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, one of the research organisations of the Max Planck Society. It was created by modifying global forecast models developed by ECMWF to be used for climate research. The model was given its name as a combination of its origin and the place of development of its parameterisation package, Hamburg. The default configuration of the model resolves the atmosphere up to 10 hPa, but it can be reconfigured to 0.01 hPa for use in studying the stratosphere and lower mesosphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate change feedbacks</span> Feedback related to climate change

Climate change feedbacks are effects of global warming that amplify or diminish the effect of forces that initially cause the warming. Positive feedbacks enhance global warming while negative feedbacks weaken it. Feedbacks are important in the understanding of climate change because they play an important part in determining the sensitivity of the climate to warming forces. Climate forcings and feedbacks together determine how much and how fast the climate changes. Large positive feedbacks can lead to tipping points—abrupt or irreversible changes in the climate system—depending upon the rate and magnitude of the climate change.

Watts Up With That? (WUWT) is a blog promoting climate change denial that was created by Anthony Watts in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith Curry</span> American climatologist (born c. 1953)

Judith A. Curry is an American climatologist and former chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research interests include hurricanes, remote sensing, atmospheric modeling, polar climates, air-sea interactions, climate models, and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for atmospheric research. She was a member of the National Research Council's Climate Research Committee, published over a hundred scientific papers, and co-edited several major works. Curry retired from academia in 2017 at age 63, coinciding with her public climate change skepticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynthia Rosenzweig</span> American agronomist and climatologist

Cynthia E. Rosenzweig is an American agronomist and climatologist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, located at Columbia University, "who helped pioneer the study of climate change and agriculture." She is an adjunct senior research scientist at the Columbia Climate School and has over 300 publications, over 80 peer-reviewed articles, has authored or edited eight books. She has also served in many different organizations working to develop plans to manage climate change, at the global level with the IPCC as well as in New York City after Hurricane Sandy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Marvel</span> American climate scientist and communicator

Kate Marvel is a climate scientist and science writer based in New York City. She is a senior scientist at Project Drawdown and was formerly an associate research scientist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia Engineering's Department of Applied Physics and Mathematics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Parkinson</span> American Earth scientist and climatologist

Claire Lucille Parkinson is an American Earth scientist and climatologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

References

  1. "Gavin Schmidt: a climatologist trying to give out the right signals amid the noise". The Guardian . 6 July 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Dr. Gavin A. Schmidt". NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Contributor's Biography page". RealClimate. 6 December 2004. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  4. Hansen, J.; et al. (2007). "Dangerous human-made interference with climate: A GISS modelE study". Atmos. Chem. Phys. 7 (9): 2287–2312. arXiv: physics/0610115 . Bibcode:2007ACP.....7.2287H. doi: 10.5194/acp-7-2287-2007 . S2CID   14992639.
    Koch, D., G.A. Schmidt, C.V. Field (2006). "Sulfur, sea salt and radionuclide aerosols in GISS ModelE". J. Geophys. Res. 111 (D06206): D06206. Bibcode:2006JGRD..111.6206K. doi: 10.1029/2004JD005550 .{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
    Schmidt, G.A.; et al. (2006). "Present day atmospheric simulations using GISS ModelE: Comparison to in-situ, satellite and reanalysis data". J. Climate. 19 (2): 153–192. Bibcode:2006JCli...19..153S. doi: 10.1175/JCLI3612.1 .
  5. "NASA Names Schmidt Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies". www.nasa.gov. NASA. June 9, 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
  6. Kintisch, Eli (June 9, 2014). "'Unflappable' Science 'Warrior' Chosen to Lead Key NASA Climate Lab". news.sciencemag.org/. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
  7. "RealClimate: About". 1 December 2004. Retrieved 2009-10-31.
  8. Schmidt, Gavin; Amman, Caspar (18 February 2005). "Dummies guide to the latest "Hockey Stick" controversy". realclimate.org. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  9. Pearce, Fred, The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming, (2010) Guardian Books, ISBN   978-0-85265-229-9, p. XII, pp. 181–182.
  10. "Gavin Schmidt is the EarthSky Science Communicator of the Year". EarthSky. 15 January 2012.
  11. "Inaugural Climate Communications Prize Winner Announced". American Geophysical Union. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  12. Krajick, Kevin (18 October 2011). "New Public Outreach Prize Goes to Earth Institute Climatologist". State of the Planet blog, The Earth Institute, Columbia University . Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  13. IPCC AR4 (2007). "Annex II: Contributors to the IPCC WGI Fourth Assessment Report". Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-05-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. Goddard Institute of Space Studies (9 November 2004). "NASA Climatologists Named in Scientific American Top 50 Scientists" . Retrieved 2004-11-09.
  15. "GISS Publications, Gavin A.Schmidt web page" . Retrieved 2008-04-11.
  16. Schmidt, G.A.; Wolfe, J. (2009). Climate Change: Picturing the Science. W.W. Norton. p. 305. ISBN   978-0-393-33125-7.
  17. https://zbmath.org/collaboration-distance/?a=Paul+erdos&b=schmidt.gavin-a