Akio Arakawa

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

Early life and achievements Arakawa was the youngest of three sons. Living through World War II in Japan, he recalled his two older brothers served in the Japanese military without incident, while he was drafted to work as a fireman part-time while finishing high school.

Recognition and later life In 1977, Arakawa was awarded the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal, the highest award in the field of atmospheric science, from the American Meteorological Society, for his work on "mathematical models of the atmosphere and in numerical methods of weather prediction". In 2010, he received the Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal from the European Geosciences Union.

Arakawa was one of the nine scientists who wrote the Charney report in 1979, which predicted a global warming-related temperature rise over the next century and a climate sensitivity of 3°C.