John Matthew Wahr (June 22, 1951, Ann Arbor, Michigan – November 11, 2015, Boulder, Colorado)[1] was an American geophysicist and geodesist, known for his research on Earth's rotation, Earth tides, ocean tides, post-glacial rebound, and other topics in the geosciences.[2][3][4]
Biography edit
Wahr grew up in Midland, Michigan. He graduated in 1973 from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in physics and mathematics. In September 1974 he married Ann Carol Brady.[1] At the University of Colorado Boulder he graduated in physics with an M.S. in 1976 and a Ph.D. in 1979. As a postdoc Wahr was from 1980 to 1982 a visiting scientist in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Program of Princeton University's Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences. In the Department of Physics of the University of Colorado Boulder, he was from 1983 to 1986 an assistant professor, from 1986 to 1992,[5] from 1992 to 2013 a full professor, and from 2013 until his death in 2015 a research professor in semi-retirement.[4] From 1983 to 2015 he held an appointment as a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. For many years beginning in 1989, he held an appointment as Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.[5] His Ph.D. thesis The Tidal Motions of a Rotating, Elliptical, Elastic and Oceanless Earth[6] was supervised by Martin L. Smith.[2]
Wahr's research dealt with applications of satellite geodesy to geophysics and geophysical aspects of hydrology, glaciology, and oceanography.[7][2] He had important involvement in NASA's satellite mission Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE),[8][2] as well as the mission Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat)[9][10] and the mission TOPEX/Poseidon.[11][12] He and his collaborators used satellite geodesy to investigate ice melting and mass losses in the ice sheets of Greenland[13][14] and Antarctica[15] and to determine distributions of ocean mass.[16] Several of Wahr's papers have more than 400 citations.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] He was the author or coauthor of more than 170 scientific publications.[3]
Wahr received in 1983 the International Association of Geodesy's Guy Bomford Prize. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) awarded him in 1985 the James B. Macelwane Medal, elected him in 1985 a Fellow of the AGU, in 1994 appointed him the William Bowie Lecturer,[5] and in 2006 awarded him the Charles A. Whitten Medal.[2] In 1991 he was elected a Fellow of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG).[5] In 2004 the European Geosciences Union (EGU) awarded him the Vening Meinesz Medal.[7] In 2012 he was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.[27]
Wahr's doctoral students include Tonie van Dam.
Upon his death in 2015 from pancreatic cancer, he was survived by his widow Ann and their daughter and son.[1]
Selected publications edit
- Wahr, John M. (1981). "A normal mode expansion for the forced response of a rotating earth". Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 64 (3): 651–675. Bibcode:1981GeoJ...64..651W. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1981.tb02689.x.
- Wahr, J. M. (1982). "The effects of the atmosphere and oceans on the Earth's wobble -- I. Theory". Geophysical Journal International. 70 (2): 349–372. Bibcode:1982GeoJ...70..349W. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1982.tb04972.x.
- Carton, J. A.; Wahr, J. M. (1986). "Modelling the pole tide and its effect on the Earth's rotation". Geophysical Journal International. 84: 121–137. Bibcode:1986GeoJ...84..121C. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1986.tb04348.x.
- Wahr, J. M. (1988). "The Earth's Rotation". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 16: 231–249. Bibcode:1988AREPS..16..231W. doi:10.1146/annurev.ea.16.050188.001311. S2CID 54540284.
- De Vries, Dan; Wahr, John M. (1991). "The effects of the solid inner core and nonhydrostatic structure on the Earth's forced nutations and Earth tides". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 96 (B5): 8275–8293. Bibcode:1991JGR....96.8275D. doi:10.1029/90JB01958.
- Trupin, Andrew S.; Meier, Mark F.; Wahr, John M. (1992). "Effect of melting glaciers on the Earth's rotation and gravitational field: 1965-1984". Geophysical Journal International. 108: 1–15. Bibcode:1992GeoJI.108....1T. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1992.tb00835.x.
- Celaya, Michael A.; Wahr, John M.; Bryan, Frank O. (1999). "Climate-driven polar motion". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 104 (B6): 12813–12829. Bibcode:1999JGR...10412813C. doi:10.1029/1999JB900016.
- Jayne, Steven R.; Wahr, John M.; Bryan, Frank O. (2003). "Observing ocean heat content using satellite gravity and altimetry". Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 108 (C2): 3031. Bibcode:2003JGRC..108.3031J. doi:10.1029/2002JC001619.
- Mitrovica, Jerry X.; Wahr, John; Matsuyama, Isamu; Paulson, Archie (2005). "The rotational stability of an ice-age earth". Geophysical Journal International. 161 (2): 491–506. Bibcode:2005GeoJI.161..491M. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2005.02609.x.
- Wahr, J. M.; Zuber, M. T.; Smith, D. E.; Lunine, J. I. (2006). "Tides on Europa, and the thickness of Europa's icy shell" (PDF). Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 111 (E12). Bibcode:2006JGRE..11112005W. doi:10.1029/2006JE002729.
- Ashby, Neil; Bender, Peter L.; Wahr, John M. (2007). "Future gravitational physics tests from ranging to the BepiColombo Mercury planetary orbiter". Physical Review D. 75 (2): 022001. Bibcode:2007PhRvD..75b2001A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.75.022001.
References edit
- ^ a b c "John M. Wahr (1951–2015)". The Daily Camera. November 15, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e "John M. Wahr, 2006 Charles A. Whitten Medal Winner". American Geophysical Union (AGU).
- ^ a b "John Wahr Elected to National Academy of Sciences". Department of Physics University of Colorado Boulder. 2 May 2012.
- ^ a b "In Memoriam - John Wahr". Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder. 12 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d "John M. Wahr, CV" (PDF). International Association of Geodesy/Global Geodetic Observing System (iag-ggos.org).
- ^ Wahr, J. M. (1979). The Tidal Motions of a Rotating, Elliptical, Elastic and Oceanless Earth, Ph. D. thesis. University of Colorado, Boulder. 216 pages.
- ^ a b "2004 Vening Meinesz Medal is awarded to John Wahr". European Geosciences Union (EGU).
- ^ "John Wahr, CIRES Fellow". Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.
- ^ Colgan, W.T.; Abdalati, W.; Box, J.E.; Csatho, B.M.; Fausto, R.S.; Fettweis, X.; Luthcke, S.B.; Scambos, T.A.; van As, D.; Wahr, J.M.; Zwally, H. (December 2013). "Millennial scale ice dynamics and the spatial partition of Greenland mass change". AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts. Vol. 2013. pp. C41E–02).2013. Bibcode:2013AGUFM.C41E..02C.
- ^ Wahr, John; Wingham, Duncan; Bentley, Charles (2000). "A method of combining ICESat and GRACE satellite data to constrain Antarctic mass balance". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 105 (B7): 16279–16294. Bibcode:2000JGR...10516279W. doi:10.1029/2000JB900113.
- ^ Desai, Shailen D.; Wahr, John M. (1995). "Empirical ocean tide models estimated from TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetry". Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 100 (C12): 25205–25228. Bibcode:1995JGR...10025205D. doi:10.1029/95JC02258.
- ^ Leuliette, Eric W.; Wahr, John M. (1999). "Coupled Pattern Analysis of Sea Surface Temperature and TOPEX/Poseidon Sea Surface Height". Journal of Physical Oceanography. 29 (4): 599. Bibcode:1999JPO....29..599L. doi:10.1175/1520-0485(1999)029<0599:CPAOSS>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 1520-0485.
- ^ Furuya, M.; Wahr, J. M. (2005). "Water level changes at an ice-dammed lake in west Greenland inferred from InSAR data". Geophysical Research Letters. 32 (14). Bibcode:2005GeoRL..3214501F. doi:10.1029/2005GL023458.
- ^ Korsgaard, N.J.; Kjær, K.H.; Khan, S.A.; Wahr, J.M.; Bamber, J.L.; Hurkmans, R.T.; Timm, L.H.; Kjeldsen, K.K.; Bjork, A.A.; Larsen, N.K. (December 2011). "Multi-decadal dynamic thinning on the northwest margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet". AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2011, pp. C53C-0684). Vol. 2011. Bibcode:2011AGUFM.C53C0684K.
{{cite book}}:|journal=ignored (help) - ^ Bentley, C. R.; Wahr, J. M. (1998). "Satellite gravity and the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet". Journal of Glaciology. 44 (147): 207–213. Bibcode:1998JGlac..44..207B. doi:10.3189/S0022143000002549.
- ^ Nerem, R. S.; Wahr, J. M.; Leuliette, E. W. (2003). "Measuring the Distribution of Ocean Mass Using GRACE". Earth Gravity Field from Space — from Sensors to Earth Sciences. Space Sciences Series of ISSI. Vol. 17. pp. 331–344. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-1333-7_28. ISBN 978-90-481-6334-2. S2CID 121191210.
- ^ Wahr, John M. (1981). "Body tides on an elliptical, rotating, elastic and oceanless earth". Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 64 (3): 677–703. Bibcode:1981GeoJ...64..677W. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1981.tb02690.x. (over 650 citations)
- ^ Wahr, John M. (1981). "The forced nutations of an elliptical, rotating, elastic and oceanless earth". Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 64 (3): 705–727. Bibcode:1981GeoJ...64..705W. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1981.tb02691.x. (over 500 citations)
- ^ Wahr, John M. (1985). "Deformation induced by polar motion". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 90 (B11): 9363–9368. Bibcode:1985JGR....90.9363W. doi:10.1029/JB090iB11p09363. (over 450 citations)
- ^ Dehant, Véronique; Defraigne, P.; Wahr, J. M. (1999). "Tides for a convective Earth". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 104 (B1): 1035–1058. Bibcode:1999JGR...104.1035D. doi:10.1029/1998JB900051. (over 400 citations)
- ^ Van Dam, T.; Wahr, J.; Milly, P. C. D.; Shmakin, A. B.; Blewitt, G.; Lavallée, D.; Larson, K. M. (2001). "Crustal displacements due to continental water loading". Geophysical Research Letters. 28 (4): 651–654. Bibcode:2001GeoRL..28..651V. doi:10.1029/2000GL012120. S2CID 16913286. (over 450 citations)
- ^ Velicogna, Isabella; Wahr, John (2006). "Measurements of Time-Variable Gravity Show Mass Loss in Antarctica". Science. 311 (5768): 1754–1756. Bibcode:2006Sci...311.1754V. doi:10.1126/science.1123785. PMID 16513944. (over 750 citations)
- ^ Paulson, Archie; Zhong, Shijie; Wahr, John (2007). "Inference of mantle viscosity from GRACE and relative sea level data". Geophysical Journal International. 171 (2): 497–508. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03556.x. (over 400 citations)
- ^ Shepherd, Andrew; et al. (2012). "A Reconciled Estimate of Ice-Sheet Mass Balance". Science. 338 (6111): 1183–1189. Bibcode:2012Sci...338.1183S. doi:10.1126/science.1228102. hdl:2060/20140006608. PMID 23197528. S2CID 32653236. (1400 citations as of December 2023)
- ^ Gardner, Alex S.; Moholdt, Geir; Cogley, J. Graham; Wouters, Bert; Arendt, Anthony A.; Wahr, John; Berthier, Etienne; Hock, Regine; Pfeffer, W. Tad; Kaser, Georg; Ligtenberg, Stefan R. M.; Bolch, Tobias; Sharp, Martin J.; Hagen, Jon Ove; Van Den Broeke, Michiel R.; Paul, Frank (2013). "A Reconciled Estimate of Glacier Contributions to Sea Level Rise: 2003 to 2009" (PDF). Science. 340 (6134): 852–857. Bibcode:2013Sci...340..852G. doi:10.1126/science.1234532. PMID 23687045. S2CID 206547524. (over 1300 citations)
- ^ A, Geruo; Wahr, John; Zhong, Shijie (2013). "Computations of the viscoelastic response of a 3-D compressible Earth to surface loading: An application to Glacial Isostatic Adjustment in Antarctica and Canada". Geophysical Journal International. 192 (2): 557–572. doi:10.1093/gji/ggs030. (over 400 citations)
- ^ "John M. Wahr". Member Directory, National Academy of Sciences.