Climatologist Ray Bradley to Travel to China for Chinese Academy of Science President’s International Distinguished Scientist Fellowship

Distinguished Professor of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences Raymond Bradley has been awarded a Chinese Academy of Science President's International Distinguished Scientist Fellowship to visit China.

"My research group at UMass has greatly benefited from our long-standing collaboration with Chinese scientists," says Bradley, who is among the world's most eminent paleoclimatologists. "I am very pleased that the Chinese Academy has recognized the mutual benefits of our work with this award. I look forward to visiting the Institute of Earth Environment in Xi'an and the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research in Beijing. Both are world class research centers and I hope to further extend our research connections in the future."

Bradley been collaborating with Chinese scientists since 1986, beginning with research in China's Loess plateau. Loess is wind-blown silt, and in the plateau is has been accumulating for more than two million years. Today, the deposits are hundreds of meters thick and provide an archive of the earth's changing climactic conditions.

Bradley, who will spend approximately two weeks in October in China forging stronger research connections, will be delivering talks on, among other things, tipping points in the cryosphere (the frozen portions of the earth, such as the poles, ice sheets, and glaciers) and the historic, drought-driven collapse of Norse settlement in Greenland 700 years ago.