CU-Boulder Scientist Wins Medal For Lifetime Achievement In Polar Research | News Center

CU-Boulder Scientist Wins Medal For Lifetime Achievement In Polar Research
Oct. 11, 2006

World-renowned CU-Boulder Arctic climatologist Roger Barry will receive the prestigious Goldthwait Polar Medal by the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University on Friday, Oct. 13, in recognition of his lifetime contribution to the field of cryospheric science.

Barry, who has studied the frozen places of the world for four decades to better understand global warming, has pioneered research in weather pattern analysis, global climate modeling, ice-age climates and changes in mountain and Arctic environments. His work has been considered integral to understanding the impact and mechanisms of global climate change by colleagues worldwide.

"Professor Barry has been especially influential in crossing international boundaries to support polar research, data acquisition and synthesis," said Konrad Steffen, director of CU's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES. "He has achieved a truly outstanding record of scientific research, publication and teaching."

In addition to his teaching as a Distinguished Professor of geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Barry serves as director for the World Data Center for Glaciology and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, or NSIDC, both housed at CIRES.

"I strongly believe NSIDC would probably not be in Boulder, and would not be so successful, were it not for Roger Barry's direction since 1982. NSIDC is now considered the world's premier cryospheric data center," Steffen said.

The Goldthwait Medal, which Barry is the 11th scientist to receive, is named for Dick Goldthwait, a geologist from New Hampshire who led many research campaigns in the polar regions. Barry will give a talk on Arctic Ocean ice and its interaction with the atmosphere during the award presentation at Ohio State University, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Under Barry's leadership, NSIDC has played a pivotal role in maintaining and managing snow and ice data, such as Arctic sea ice coverage. Barry plans for the center to play a key role in the 2007-08 International Polar Year, which will be a collaborative effort among nations to support and focus research in cold regions.

Much of Barry's time currently is spent preparing NSIDC to make cryospheric data available to polar researchers now and in the future. According to Barry, the International Polar Year will be a unique opportunity to begin long-term observations in Antarctica and throughout the Arctic.

"Establishing a long-term data set for climatological conditions at the poles is important if we want to identify signatures of global climate change," Barry said.

Barry first developed his love for snow and ice as a teenager, making meteorological observations for the British Meteorological Office. He came to the United States to work for CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research in 1968, where he studied climate along Colorado's Front Range.

In 1976, he became director of the World Data Center for Glaciology, which in 1982 added the title of the National Snow and Ice Data Center through NOAA's National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service. NSIDC hosts one of seven NASA Earth Observing System data archive centers and three NSF data centers, providing the public with satellite data, field measurements and related information in an effort to enhance understanding of the global environment.

Over the years, Barry has published more than 200 scientific papers, and has one of the highest paper citation index scores worldwide in the fields of climatology and physical geography. He has authored 18 books, including many textbooks commonly used in university teaching.

Fluent in French, German and Russian, Barry has taught as a Fulbright scholar at Moscow State University and held visiting appointments at the Laboratoire de Claciologie et Geophysique de l'Environment in France, the Swiss Institute of Technology, Moscow State University, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Research in Germany, the University of East Anglia in the UK, the University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and the Australian National University.

Barry's research also has taken him to remote and diverse corners of the world, including the highlands of Papua New Guinea in the equatorial Pacific and Baffin Island, in the far northeast corner of Canada.

"Last fall was perhaps my most memorable expedition," Barry said. "I lectured for an international summer program that was taught aboard an icebreaker. We spent a month sailing from Norway to the frigid Laptev Sea."

More information about the Goldthwait Medal and this year's lecture and award presentation may be found at www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/news/polar_medal.php. For additional information about Roger Barry and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, please visit www.nsidc.org.

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