Extract from ABC News
Leading glaciologist Claude Lorius, whose discoveries in Antarctica in the 1980s helped prove humanity's role in global warming, has died at 91.
Key points:
- French glaciologist Claude Lorius died on Tuesday morning in the French region of Burgundy
- Dr Lorius is perhaps best known for his research on air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice
- The work showed carbon dioxide concentrations skyrocketed as temperatures rose from the middle of the 19th century
Dr Lorius died on Tuesday morning in the French region of Burgundy, according to Jerome Chappellaz, a palaeoclimatologist and former colleague who remains close to the family.
The French publisher Arthaud, which produced the glaciologist's memoirs, also announced his death in a statement.
A great scientist, "Claude was also of the finest calibre of polar expedition adventurers", said the famous French explorer Jean-Louis Etienne in a video posted on Twitter.
The dedicated polar explorer led 22 expeditions in Greenland and Antarctica, where he lived on and off for six years, starting from his first mission in 1957.
In the 1970s, Dr Lorius began to suspect human involvement in the planet's warming.
But it was not until a 1984 expedition at the most remote Russian Antarctic base, Vostok, that Dr Lorius was able to study ice cores drilled deep into the frozen polar landscape and confirm his suspicions.
He is perhaps most internationally renowned for research, published in 1987, into air bubbles trapped in the ice, which allowed scientists to look back over 160,000 years' worth of glacial records.
The research showed that while carbon dioxide had varied slightly over time, the concentrations of the greenhouse gas had rocketed as temperatures rose after the middle of the 19th century — the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
French research agency CNRS said that left "no room for doubt" that the warming was caused by the pollution from human activities.
From then on, Dr Lorius dedicated himself to mobilising the fight against global warming.
He was an inaugural expert for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) after the UN expert group was created in 1988.
In 2002, he was awarded the CNRS gold medal along with his colleague and friend Jean Jouzel.
A global figure, Dr Lorius was the first Frenchmen to receive the prestigious Blue Planet Prize. He was awarded the Bower Medal for scientific achievement in 2017 by the Franklin Institute.
Dr Lorius returned to Antarctica in his 80s to feature in director Luc Jacquet's documentary Ice and the Sky, which showcases the explorer's extraordinary career. The film premiered at the closing ceremony of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
AFP
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