Global Climate: The 500 million year record, the extent and causes of temperature change, and what we must do about it.
Dr. Gene Gordon
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
11:00AM ~ 12:15PM, Harris Center 101
Abstract
In this talk I review the broader and much more alarming picture of the average global surface temperature (AGaST) record of the past 500 million years. During all of the period the AGaST has been pinned at either 22 C or 12 C for many tens of millions of years each time. Transitions between the two extremes have been relatively quick, taking only millions of years. Of particular interest is the relatively benign recent temperature record that had bottomed out at a temperature of 12 C, a million years ago, and for the last 11,000 years has been increasing relatively rapidly in historical perspective, repeating a half dozen previous similar behaviors.
Most of this talk will be focused on the numerous phenomena that influence AGaST, why it behaves as it does, and the role of both positive and negative feedback in the greenhouse layer in defining upper and lower temperature sticking points.
Geoengineering is the deliberate modification of Earth's environment on a large scale "to suit human needs and promote habitability". In the narrower context relevant here, geoengineering is the study and development of suitable global thermostats for stabilizing global temperature at a desirable value. I will review ideas for potential global thermostat mechanisms that have been discussed during the last 45 years. Unfortunately, experimentation has been inhibited by concern with potential, unforeseen negative results. Nature has made some demonstrations with great success and these will be described.
The current temperature trajectory makes such experiments and subsequent implementation essential in order to preserve for our descendents, the climate, life and land mass on our planet approximately as we have known it. Given the lessons of history, the potential for planet disaster is great. The current narrow focus on curbing anthropogenic CO2 is distracting from the important geoengineering task ahead. If there is time I will review the reasons why the U.S. should be eliminating the purchase of petroleum from foreign sources and technology for achieving that objective. Reducing anthropogenic CO2 is desirable, but mainly for political, economical, and security reasons.
Short Bio
Dr. Gordon is a well-known scientist and engineer. He and his group at AT&T Bell Laboratories discovered and developed several important laser systems, including the well-known, red, helium-neon laser. He invented and developed the powerful, continuous blue-green argon ion laser. He and his group invented and developed the charge coupled device used as the sensing array in most digital camera, television and infra-red imaging systems for military applications, especially the CAMCORDER and facsimile machines and astronomy. Dr. Gordon and his group invented and developed the solution for making semiconductor lasers sufficiently reliable for submarine cable use. His strong interest in medical uses of lasers, led to the invention of the articulated arm photocoagulator for treatment of diabetic retinopathy with Francis A. L'Esperance, Jr., MD of Columbia University. This has saved the vision of tens of millions of eyes. Dr. Gordon has of order 80 US patents and has published over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the IEEE, and has been awarded the IEEE Edison Medal and the IEEE Zworykin Field Award. He has been active professionally; he founded one IEEE Society, (the predecessor of the Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, LEOS), two IEEE journals, (Journal of Quantum Electronics and Electron Device Letters), has served as associate editor of two IEEE journals, and been active in IEEE Publications and Awards for many years. He was a consultant for DOD and was chairman of Working Group C of the Advisory Group on Electron Devices (AGED) from 1970 - 1981 and a board member of AGED from 1981 - 1984. AGED is a committee of DOD.
He graduated Magna Cum Laude from City College of New York in 1952. He received a Ph.D. in Physics from MIT, working in gas discharge physics and remained for a year of postdoctoral research on thermonuclear fusion. After completing his postdoctoral year in November 1957 he joined the staff of AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J. becoming Laboratory Director in 1968.
Dr. Gordon retired from AT&T in 1983 and founded Lytel, Inc. of Somerville, NJ, a manufacturer of lasers and optical transmission subsystems; he was Chairman and CEO. He joined Hughes Aircraft Company in 1987 as Senior Vice President and Director of their Research Labs located in Malibu, CA.
