As appeared in The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939) on Saturday 17 May 1913. Note the reference to the greenhouse effect.
THE ICE AGE.
A Novel Explanation of Glacial Periods was propounded by Prof. W.J. Humphreys, of the Weather Bureau, at the Cleveland meeting of the Astronomical and Astrophyslcal Society of America. Several times in recent years it has been observed that great explosive volcanic eruptions (Krakatoa, Pele, Katmai), by charging the upper atmosphere, in the isothermal region, with fine dust, have markedly diminished the amount of solar radiation received at the earth's surface. It seems evident that the effect of this process must be to reduce the temperature of the air near the earth, since the dust scatters a much greater amount of the solar radiation received from without than of the terrestrial radiation received from within, owing to the greater average wave length of the latter. Thus a period of excessive volcanic activity if long continued would produce the thermal conditions of an ice age. The geological record furnishes evidence that such a period actually began shortly before the last ice age and has continued with diminishing intensity to the present time.
About Professor William Jackson Humphreys
Excerpts from longer tribute and biography in Science Vol 112:
Dr. Humphreys was born in a one-room log house at Gap Mills, West Virginia, February 3, 1862.
His undergraduate training was at Washington and Lee University, where he received the degree of A.B. in 1886, and C.E. in 1888. After a year of further study at the University of Virginia, 1888-1889, he taught at Miller School, near Crozet, Virginia, 1889-1893, then at Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland, 1893-1894. In 1894, he began graduate research in physics at The Johns Hopkins University, studying under the great physicist Henry A. Rowland and other noted men; he received the Ph.D. degree in 1897. His notable contribution to physical science began during his graduate work at Johns Hopkins....
...On July 1, 1905, Dr. Humphreys was appointed meteorological physicist in the U. S. Weather Bureau, a position which he held for 30 years. From 1905 to 1908 he was supervising director of the Mt. Weather Observatory, which had been established for the investigation of physical phenomena of the atmosphere; thereafter he served continuously at the Central Office in Washington, D. C.
He turned his attention from spectroscopy to the physical problems of the atmosphere, and soon provided the explanation of the existence and principal characteristics of the stratosphere, first announced on June 30, 1908, to the Physics Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society. This was followed by a long series of contributions to meteorological physics that brought him international recognition and many honors....
More here.
A notification of the death of Professor Humphreys by AMS:
Professor Emeritus W. J. Humphreys of George Washington University died November 10, 1949 at the age of eighty-seven years. He had been a member of the Society for twenty-four years.
Photo credit: Harris V. Ewing, Washington D.C., courtesy AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives, W. F. Meggers Collection
I have a copy of the 3rd edition. It's still excellent.
ReplyDeleteThe volcano theory of climate change, not so much. But it was respectable for some time, which is better than most ice ages ideas could claim.