Ray Bradley
Encyclopedia
Raymond S. "Ray" Bradley is a climatologist and University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...

, where he is also research director of the Climate System Research Center. Bradley's work indicates that the warming of Earth's climate system in the twentieth century is inexplicable via natural mechanisms.

Biography

Bradley was a contributing author to the IPCC
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...

 TAR
IPCC Third Assessment Report
The IPCC Third Assessment Report, Climate Change 2001, is an assessment of available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change by the IPCC. The IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN's World Meteorological Organization ".....

 http://www.grida.no/publications/other/ipcc_tar/?src=/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/558.htm. Bradley worked on reconstructing the temperature record of the past 1000 years
Temperature record of the past 1000 years
The temperature record of the 2nd millennium describes the reconstruction of temperatures since 1000 CE on the Northern Hemisphere, later extended back to 1 CE and also to cover the southern hemisphere. A reconstruction is needed because a reliable surface temperature record exists only since about...

 with Michael E. Mann and Malcolm K. Hughes
Malcolm K. Hughes
Malcolm K. Hughes is a meso-climatologist and Regents' Professor of Dendrochronology in the Laboratory for Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona. He was born in Matlock, Derbyshire, England, and earned a Ph.D in ecology from the University of Durham. Since 1998, he is a fellow of the...

, an eminent dendrologist. This work (for which is he is publicly best known, although scientifically his contributions to assembling surface temperature records are only rivaled by Phil Jones) figured prominently in the IPCC TAR SPM
Summary for policymakers
The Summary for policymakers is a summary of the IPCC reports intended to aid policymakers. The content is determined by the scientists, but the form is approved line by line by governments...

. In 2005, the Chair of the US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Rep. Joe Barton
Joe Barton
Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton is a Republican politician, representing in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus...

 (R-Texas) demanded that Bradley provide a detailed accounting of the data and funding of his research on climate change. Barton specifically asked for responses to various allegations made by Stephen McIntyre
Stephen McIntyre
Stephen McIntyre is a Canadian mathematician, former minerals prospector, and semi-retired mining consultant who is best known as the founder and editor of Climate Audit, a blog devoted to the analysis and discussion of climate data...

 and Ross McKitrick
Ross McKitrick
Ross McKitrick is a Canadian economist specializing in environmental economics and policy analysis. He is professor of economics at the University of Guelph; a senior fellow of the Fraser Institute, a Canadian free-market public policy think tank; and a member of the academic advisory boards of the...

 about the Mann, Bradley and Hughes papers. In Bradley's response, he finds the assertions of McIntyre and McKitrick to be without worth, and recommends a commentary by Gavin Schmidt
Gavin Schmidt
Gavin A. Schmidt is a climatologist and climate modeler at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. He works on the variability of the ocean circulation and climate, using general circulation models . He has also worked on ways to reconcile paleo-data with models...

 on the RealClimate
RealClimate
RealClimate is a commentary site on climatology. The site's contributors are a group of climate scientists whose goal is to provide a quick response to developing stories and providing the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. The discussion is intended to be restricted to scientific...

 website as providing a very good guide to the issues.

Interests and activities

Bradley's interests include climate variability and change. Bradley is a member of the RealClimate
RealClimate
RealClimate is a commentary site on climatology. The site's contributors are a group of climate scientists whose goal is to provide a quick response to developing stories and providing the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. The discussion is intended to be restricted to scientific...

 blog. Bradley has contributed to the public discussion of global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

; in 2002 he was interviewed by CNN on the "melting glaciers of Kilimanjaro" story.

Books

  • Bradley, R.S. and N.E. Law, 2001. "Climate Change and Society". Stanley Thornes, Cheltenham.
  • Bradley, R.S., 1999. "Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary". Academic Press, San Diego. (ed. title page and Table of Contents available here.)
  • Diaz, H.F., M. Beniston and R.S. Bradley, 1997. "Climatic Change at High Elevation Sites". Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht.
  • Bradley, R.S., 1985. "Quaternary Paleoclimatology: Methods of Paleoclimatic Reconstruction". Chapman and Hall, London.
  • Bradley, R.S., 1976. "The Precipitation History of the Rocky Mountains. Westview Press, Boulder".
  • Bradley, R.S. and Jones, P.D. (eds) 1992. "Climate Since A.D. 1500". Routledge, London. [Revised edition, 1995, with additional chapter] (ed. title page and Table of Contents available here.)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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