J. Murray Mitchell

J. Murray Mitchell (September 17, 1928 – October 5, 1990) was an American climatologist. As a United States Air Force weather officer in Alaska from 1952 to 1955, he investigated and named the Arctic haze. He served with the United States Weather Bureau and successor agencies from 1955 until his retirement in 1986, and was a prominent member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation. The Mitchell Glacier was named after him.

John Murray Mitchell Jr. was born on September 17, 1928, in New York City. He grew up in Tuxedo Park, New York, and as an adolescent became interested in weather and climate. His studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved a bachelor's degree in 1951 and a master's in 1952. He then served as a United States Air Force weather officer in Alaska for three years. During this time, he observed a Spring haze, at times as dense as smog, which he called Arctic haze. His investigation into the particles forming the haze indicated that it had come from industrial areas of Europe and China.

In 1955 he became a research meteorologist with the United States Weather Bureau, and in 1960 he earned a doctorate at Pennsylvania State University. In 1965 he became a project scientist on climatic change with the newly formed Environmental Science Services Administration, which five years later became part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In that organization he became a senior climatologist in 1974, and senior research climatologist from 1983 until his retirement in 1986. He continued to serve as a climatology consultant to the government after his retirement.

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