Danish paleoclimatologist Willi Dansgaard (1922–2011) helped pioneer Greenland ice-core climate research. With Chester C. Langway Jr. of the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, he used mass spectrometry to measure oxygen-18/oxygen-16 ratios and reconstruct past temperatures. Dansgaard tested the relationship by collecting rainwater through funnels set in beer bottles. Their analysis found that Greenland warmed by about 16°F over roughly 50 years near 14,600 years ago. His work, alongside Claude Lorius and Hans Oeschger, helped transform understanding of climate and atmospheric composition over the past 150,000 years. He died in Copenhagen on January 8, 2011, aged 88.
Willi Dansgaard pioneered ice-core climate research using oxygen isotopes
Key facts
- Willi Dansgaard (1922–2011) was a Danish paleoclimatologist and professor emeritus of geophysics at the University of Copenhagen.
- Dansgaard pioneered Greenland ice-core paleothermometry with Chester C. Langway Jr. of the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.
- They used mass spectrometry and oxygen-18/oxygen-16 ratios in ice to reconstruct past temperatures.
- Dansgaard tested the isotope-temperature relationship by collecting rainwater in his garden using funnels set in beer bottles.
- Their core analysis indicated about 16°F of Greenland warming over roughly 50 years near 14,600 years before present.
- Dansgaard, Claude Lorius and Hans Oeschger helped establish ice-core reconstructions of temperature and atmospheric composition over about 150,000 years.
- Dansgaard died in Copenhagen on January 8, 2011, aged 88.
Sources
The history of Danish ice core science - Niels Bohr Institutetnbi.ku.dk
The fundamental idea of using ice cores to study past climate was conceived by Willi Dansgaard in the early 1950s.
Abrupt Change in Climate and Biotic Systems - ScienceDirect.comsciencedirect.com
Fifty years ago, Willi Dansgaard and colleagues discovered several abrupt climate change events in Greenland during the last glacial period.
Ancient leaves preserved under a mile of Greenland's icearcticfocus.org
In 1963, inside a covert U.S. military base in northern Greenland, a team of scientists began drilling down through the Greenland ice sheet. Piece by piece, ...
Abrupt climate changehistory.aip.org
A Danish group headed by Willi Dansgaard drilled a long core of ice at Camp Century, Greenland in cooperation with Americans led by Chester Langway, Jr. The ...
Willi Dansgaard Dies at 88; Read Climates in Old Icenytimes.com
Drilling into the Greenland icecap, Mr. Dansgaard was able to analyze ancient bubbles of trapped oxygen and gauge temperature.
Academy of Europe: Dansgaard Williae-info.org
Willi Dansgaard passed away January 8, 2011. Positions Held. Professor of Geophysics at the University of Copenhagen. Fields of Scholarship.
The legacy of Dansgaard - Niels Bohr Institutetnbi.ku.dk
His old department at the University of Copenhagen has evolved into the “Centre for Ice and Climate” at the Niels Bohr Institute, which is one ...
Willi Dansgaarden.wikipedia.org
Willi Dansgaard was a Danish paleoclimatologist. He was Professor Emeritus of Geophysics at the University of Copenhagen and a member of the Royal Danish ...
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