Hubert Horace Lamb (22 September 1913 inBedford – 28 June 1997 inHolt, Norfolk) was an Englishclimatologist who founded theClimatic Research Unit in 1972 in the School of Environmental Sciences at theUniversity of East Anglia.[1]
Most of Lamb's scientific life was spent at theMeteorological Office, UK, where he started as a Technical Officer progressing by special merit promotion. As aQuaker andconscientious objector, Lamb refused to work on the meteorology of gas spraying duringWorld War II, and was transferred to theIrish Meteorological Service, then still closely associated with the UK Met Office.[2] On returning to the UK service after the war his responsibilities were in the fields of long rangeweather forecasting, world climatology andclimate change. In this capacity he was assigned toWest Germany andMalta. Earlier he was also posted as meteorological adviser on a Norwegian whaling factory ship toAntarctica. He became a member of theWorld Meteorological Organization's Working Group on Climate Fluctuations.
Lamb was one of the first to propose that climate could change within human experience, going against the orthodox view of the time that climate could be treated as constant for practical purposes.[1] He developed early theories about theMedieval Warm Period andLittle Ice Age. He became known for his prediction of gradualglobal cooling and a comingglacial period (colloquially an "ice age"), and he subsequently highlighted a more immediate future prospect ofglobal warming.[3]
In 1965 he published his study on "The early medieval warm epoch and its sequel", based on "data from the realms of botany, historical document research and meteorology". His view was that "Evidence has been accumulating in many fields of investigation pointing to a notably warm climate in many parts of the world, that lasted a few centuries around A.D. 1000–1200, and was followed by a decline of temperature levels till between 1500 and 1700 the coldest phase since the last ice age occurred."[4] The paper included a series of diagrams of temperatures in central England over the period, simplified in a 1982 version adjusted to account for "probable under-reporting of mild winters in Medieval times" and "certain botanical considerations" including historical records of vineyards in southern and eastern England. This version was featured in theIPCC First Assessment Report of 1990,figure 7.1c on p. 202, as a "Schematic diagram of global temperature variations for the last thousand years."[5]
In 1971 Lamb decided to base his pioneering research at a university, and he became the first director of theClimatic Research Unit established in 1972 in the School of Environmental Sciences at theUniversity of East Anglia.[1] In 1973 and 1975 he arranged for two international conferences which were hosted inNorwich. He was known as "the ice man" because of his view thatglobal cooling would lead to a futureglacial period within 10,000 years with some abrupt cooling phases occurring "within one to two thousand years".[6]: 368 However he also acknowledged thatglobal warming could have serious effects within a century.[6]: 365 His warnings of damage to agriculture, ice caps melting, and cities being flooded caught widespread attention and helped to shape public opinion. He gained the unit sponsorship from seven major insurance companies, who wanted to make use of the research of the unit when making their own studies of the implications of climate change for insurance against storm and flood damage. He retired from the unit in 1978, and his contributions to the unit were recognised in 1981 when he was granted an honorary Doctorate of Science.[3]
Lamb's 1977 bookClimatic History and the Future described studies offossil pollen showing an abrupt change from a glacial era of pinewoods to oak trees,[7] pointing to "great rapidity of climate change". He discussed research on the complex effects of human caused pollution, and suggested that "On balance, the effects of increased carbon dioxide on climate is almost certainly in the direction of warming but is probably much smaller than the estimates which have commonly been accepted."[8]
In the preface to his 1984 edition of the book, Lamb noted studies of the "carbon dioxide problem" and called for more investigation of past climate, particularly "evidence that some major climatic changes took place surprisingly quickly." He outlined recent research suggesting that the next glaciation would begin in 3,000 to 7,000 years, and wrote "It is to be noted here that there is no necessary contradiction between forecast expectations of (a) some renewed (or continuation of) slight cooling of world climate for some years to come, e.g. from volcanic or solar activity variations; (b) an abrupt warming due to the effect of increasing carbon dioxide, lasting some centuries until fossil fuels are exhausted and a while thereafter; and this followed in turn by (c) a glaciation lasting (like the previous ones) for many thousands of years.”[8]
In August 2006, theClimatic Research Unit Building in the School of Environmental Sciences at theUniversity of East Anglia was renamed the Hubert Lamb Building.[11]In the same year, Lamb was hailed as 'instrumental in establishing the study of climate change as a serious research subject' in a report listing the 'top 100 world-changing discoveries, innovations and research projects to come out of the UK universities in the last 50 years'.[12]
In September 2013, the centenary of Lamb's birth was commemorated by a symposium at the University of East Anglia, co-organised with theRoyal Meteorological Society.[13]
Lamb was son of Ernest Horace Lamb (1878–1946),DSC,DSc, professor of engineering atQueen Mary College, London,[14][15] and Lilian, daughter of the Rev. G. H. Brierley.[16] He was a grandson of the mathematicianHorace Lamb, whose influence he credited for his own early career at the Meteorological Office,[2] and a nephew of the classicistWalter Lamb, the painterHenry Lamb and the archaeologistDorothy Lamb. His sonNorman Lamb was theLiberal Democrat MP forNorth Norfolk from 2001 until 2019.
