Deputy Director of the Global Monitoring Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Boulder, Colorado
Dr. Russell Schnell was born and raised in Castor, Alberta. He holds first class honour’s degrees in Biology from the University of Alberta, and Chemistry from Memorial University, Newfoundland. He earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming, in Atmospheric Science.
He oversees operations of atmospheric observatories located in Barrow, Alaska; Trinidad Head, California; Mauna Loa, Hawaii; American Samoa; and South Pole, Antarctica. His current arctic activities are mainly associated with the Baseline Observatory in Barrow, Alaska, including overall responsibility for the station and scientific interest in boundary layer ozone depletion.
While working at the NOAA, Dr. Schnell was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his work on the International Panel on Climate Change.
Dr. Schnell has been Director of numerous major projects and scientific institutions, has lived or worked in 65 countries, and has authored more than 100 scientific publications.
Significant contributions made by Dr. Schnell, or under his direction, include:
- Discovery of biological ice nuclei, first used in snowmaking, food preservation, and preserving human organs for transplant.
- Established the degree of pollution of Canada’s north, and that Arctic Haze was air pollution from Eastern Europe and Russia.
- Major discoveries on Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, and the ozone layer.