UMaine Climatologist Receiving University of Buffalo Alumni Achievement Award
Contact: Barbara A. Byers, (716) 645-3312; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Paul Mayewski, director of the Climate Change Institute at UMaine, will be honored by the University at Buffalo Alumni Association at its achievement awards gala to be held April 5 in the Adam’s Mark Hotel in downtown Buffalo on April 5.
The awards are presented each spring to alumni and friends of UB for bringing distinction to themselves and the university through outstanding professional and personal achievement, loyal service to UB and exemplary service to their communities.
Mayewski, a 1968 graduate of UB, is a glaciologist, explorer and an internationally recognized expert in polar glacier research and climate change.
In 1990, he founded and has since chaired the executive committee for the International Trans Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ITASE), organizing participants from 21 countries for scientific expeditions. As chief scientist and field leader for U.S. expeditions, he has led the team across 5,000 miles and obtained more than 13,000 feet of ice cores. In all, he has led more than 45 expeditions to the Antarctic and other similarly remote regions, including many to elevations in excess of 21,000 feet. Three were to Mt. Everest.
Mayewski’s primary research interests are changes in climate and chemistry of the atmosphere. He conducted research in Antarctica for 40 years, when the frozen continent was thought to be an unchanging and isolated ice mass that was neither affected by, nor had an influence on, world climate. His research showed how dynamic Antarctica’s ice cover is and how its extent has been impacted by global climate change.
In 2003, he led the first overland journey in 42 years to the South Pole from the Byrd Surface Camp to uncover the history of climate change, and in 2007 he and his traverse team returned to Antarctica, making it the first team to travel there twice.
Mayewski was director and chief of the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2), which involved 25 American institutions drilling and obtaining a core more than 10,000 feet deep to the base of the Greenland ice. Significantly, the team discovered concept of abrupt climate change — dramatic shifts in climate occurring in less than 10 years — which plays a critical role in consideration of modern climate response to humanly induced warming of the planet.
His honors include an honorary Ph.D. from Stockholm University, the Lowell Thomas Medal from the Explorers Club and the first Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, the international coordinating body for Antarctic research. In addition, he is also recognized with a mountain in Antarctica named in his honor.
Mayewski joined the faculty at the University of Maine in 2000. He lives in Castine.