Akio Arakawa

Akio Arakawa (July 20, 1927[1][2] – March 21, 2021[3]) was a Japanese-born American climate scientist.[4][5][6] He was an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.[7]

Akio Arakawa
Born(1927-07-20)July 20, 1927
DiedMarch 21, 2021(2021-03-21) (aged 93)
Alma materUniversity of Tokyo
AwardsVilhelm Bjerknes Medal
2010
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Early life and achievements

Arakawa was the youngest of three sons. Living through World War II in Japan, he recalled his two older brothers served in the Japanese military without incident, while he was drafted to work as a fireman part-time while finishing high school.[2] He entered the University of Tokyo in 1947, and spent three years majoring in physics. After graduating in 1950, he applied for one of the few jobs available for physics graduates, with the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency stationed him on a weather ship to gain experience, and after working in that area for a year and a half, he sought another role in the agency, and was able to gain a position in the forecast research division.[2]

In the 1950s, Arakawa developed mathematics that "permitted the use of a coarser grid" to reduce the computational time needed to estimate climate changes from air sampling data. During this time, Arakawa consulted on the early Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) weather model, later taken up and further advanced by meteorologist Dr. James Hansen.[8]

Recognition and later life

In 1977, Arakawa was awarded the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal, the highest award in the field of atmospheric science, from the American Meteorological Society, for his work on "mathematical models of the atmosphere and in numerical methods of weather prediction".[9] In 2010, he received the Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal from the European Geosciences Union.[10]

Arakawa was one of the nine scientits who wrote the Charney report in 1979, which predicted a global warming-related temperature rise over the next century, and a climate sensitivity of 3°C.[11]

References
  1. "Find Local Obituaries Online".
  2. "Akio Arakawa - Session I". www.aip.org. 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  3. "Dr. Akio Arakawa, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus". Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  4. Philander, S. George (2012-06-13). Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, Second Edition. SAGE Publications. p. 68. ISBN 9781506320755.
  5. Randall, David A. (2000-07-19). General Circulation Model Development: Past, Present, and Future. Elsevier. pp. xxxi. ISBN 9780080507231.
  6. Gramelsberger, Gabriele; Feichter, Johann (2011-03-30). Climate Change and Policy: The Calculability of Climate Change and the Challenge of Uncertainty. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 34. ISBN 9783642177002.
  7. "Akio Arakawa | Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences". atmos.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  8. Mark Bowen, Censoring Science: Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming, Plume, 2007, p. 221.
  9. "Research Medal Awarded", Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, 3 July 1977, p. 6.
  10. "Akio Arakawa". European Geosciences Union (EGU). Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  11. Nathaniel Rich (August 18, 2018). "Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change". The New York Times.
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