21 December 2009
Earth's Climate History in One Hour- A Fabulous Lecture
Posted by Dan Satterfield
I just finished watching one of the best lectures on climate change ever.
Dr. Richard Alley of Penn. State gave the Bjerknes lecture at the AGU (American Geophysical Union) meeting in San Francisco this past week. This AGU meeting is the biggest scientific meeting in America, and likely the World each year. If I weren’t getting ready to head to Antarctica in 10 days to see the very ice cores he talks of, I would have been there.
Richard Alley’s book THE TWO MILE TIME MACHINE is a MUST read for anyone interested in the history and future of the Earth’s climate. It’s a must read if you just want to know HOW we know, what we know, about the deep past.
I linked to this lecture at the end of my last post, but it’s so superb, it deserves more than just a mention. It deserves a headline. For those who cannot spare the hour, but will take 5 minutes, I’ll write a summary of the talk soon here, but really, take the time to watch it.
It’s a riveting history of Earth’s climate and what caused the dramatic changes in it.
Click the image below to go to the AGU lecture page. I’m a proud member of the AGU and this is one reason why.
Dr. Richard Alley's talk at the AGU in San Francisco on how CO2 has controlled our climate for eons.
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.
This indeed is a fantastic lecture which is well worth watching. I watched it a few days ago when it first was posted, and I’ve downloaded it for further viewing.
Dr. Alley’s book, The Two-Mile Time Machine just arrived today in my mailbox–I had coincidentally ordered it last week the day before his lecture was posted…once I saw that lecture I knew the book was going to be good, and now it is here. Oh yeah. My evening is now booked (pun intended). 🙂
I finally was able to watch the entire lecture without interruption.
Enjoyed every moment of it.
Dr Alley’s lecture may have been to an audience of “brains”, but even I as a layman understood what he was talking about.
He also made me smile more than once.
I love honest enthusiasm.
Even though I have a stack of books to read, his book is now on my short list.
I agree Tom,
He made it so that those who did not work in the field could understand it. Mark of a really good scientist who knows his field well IMHO!