Friday, May 9, 2014

Dr. Michael MacCracken's 1982 Climate Change Presentation


Here's an interesting lecture where Dr. MacCracken explains the state of the science, aka consensus, as it was in 1982.  It's an interesting historical document that reveals what we knew and where the uncertainties were.  

Even better it shows a scientist in action, (not perfectly polished like so many on the climate science denialist's talk circuit), but with a deep commitment to arriving at honest, defensible conclusions while never neglecting uncertainties and all they don't yet understand.

Dr. Michael MacCracken received his B.S. in Engineering degree from Princeton University in 1964 and his Ph.D. degree in Applied Science from the University of California Davis/Livermore in 1968.  At the time of this lecture he was deputy division leader of the atmospheric and geoscience division of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.

Dr. MacCracken sent me a nice note, when I notified him of this new collection, it included the following worth sharing information:
"A the time I was also an adviser to the Department of Energy’s climate change research and climate modeling program, which I had in part prompted with a letter to them way back in 1975, and so, in that capacity, was involved in examining and considering the science across the whole field, and not just in the modeling area where I was personally active. 
I think the lecture tape is pretty complete except towards the end where they actually had to change the tape as I ran a bit long." 
Mike MacCracken"

Presented by ClimateInstituteUS

Dr. Michael MacCracken - 1982 Climate Change Presentation - Part 1 of 6
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Dr. Michael MacCracken - 1982 Climate Change Presentation - Part 2 of 6
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Dr. Michael MacCracken - 1982 Climate Change Presentation - Part 3 of 6
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Dr. Michael MacCracken - 1982 Climate Change Presentation - Part 4 of 6
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Dr. Michael MacCracken - 1982 Climate Change Presentation - Part 5 of 6
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Dr. Michael MacCracken - 1982 Climate Change Presentation - Part 6 of 6

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Currently, Michael MacCracken, Ph.D. is Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs,
Climate Institute


http://www.climate.org/about/maccracken-bio.html
Michael MacCracken has been Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs with the Climate Institute in Washington DC since 2002; he was also elected to its Board of Directors in 2006. Both of these positions are held on a volunteer basis.

Dr. MacCracken received his B.S. in Engineering degree from Princeton University in 1964 and his Ph.D. degree in Applied Science from the University of California Davis/Livermore in 1968. His dissertation used a 2-D climate model to evaluate the plausibility of several hypotheses of the causes of ice ages. 
Following his graduate work, he joined the Physics Department of the University of California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as an atmospheric physicist. His research in the ensuing 25 years included numerical modeling of various causes of climate change (including study of the potential climatic effects of greenhouse gases, volcanic aerosols, land-cover change, and nuclear war) and of factors affecting air quality (including photochemical pollution in the San Francisco Bay Area and sulfate air pollution in the northeastern United States). At LLNL, he also served as division leader for atmospheric and geophysical sciences from 1987-1993 and as deputy division leader from 1974-1987.

Essays & Other Writings:

A letter to Representatives Dingell and Boucher, March 17, 2007. RE: Dealing with Transportation Emissions in Climate Change Legislation (PDF)
Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable, a report prepared for the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (Dr. MacCracken was one of the lead authors). (PDF)
Beyond Mitigation: Potential Options for Counter-Balancing the Climatic and Environmental Consequences of the Rising Concentrations of Greenhouse Gases (PDF). Background Paper to the 2010 World Development Report, prepared for the World Bank by Dr. MacCracken

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