Akio Arakawa

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Akio Arakawa (July 20, 1927 – March 21, 2021) was a Japanese-born American climate scientist and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Early life and education: He was the youngest of three sons and lived through World War II in Japan. He studied physics at the University of Tokyo, graduating in 1950. He then joined the Japan Meteorological Agency, where he worked on weather ships and later in the forecast research division.

Contributions to science: In the 1950s, Arakawa developed mathematical methods that allowed climate models to run with a coarser grid, greatly reducing computation time. He also advised on the early Goddard Institute for Space Studies weather model, which James Hansen later helped advance. This work contributed to the development of modern numerical weather prediction and climate modeling.

Recognition and legacy: Arakawa received the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal in 1977 for his work on atmospheric models and weather prediction, and the Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal in 2010. He was one of the scientists who co-authored the Charney Report in 1979, which predicted global warming and climate sensitivity around 3°C.

Death: Akio Arakawa passed away on March 21, 2021, at the age of 93.