Antarctic and climate pioneer Claude Lorius dies

PARIS: Leading glaciologist Claude Lorius, whose Antarctica discoveries in the 1980s helped prove humanity´s role in global warming, has died at 91.

Lorius died on Tuesday morning in the French region of Burgundy according to Jerome Chappellaz, a palaeoclimatologist and former colleague who remains close to the family. The French publisher Arthaud, which produced the glaciologist´s memoirs, also announced his death in a statement.

A great scientist, “Claude was also of the finest calibre of polar expedition adventurers”, said the famous French explorer Jean-Louis Etienne in a video posted on Twitter. The dedicated polar explorer led 22 expeditions, in Greenland and above all in Antarctica, where he lived on and off for six years, starting from his first mission in 1957.