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- Resigned in 2004 after 31 years in CSIRO, during which he was promoted to Chief Research Scientist level.
- Has had advisory roles in Europe , including 5 years on the Advisory Board of the new Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena (East Germany), 8 years with the European Commission CarboEurope Program, and currently as the Senior Advising Scientist on IMECC (Infrastructure for the Measurement of the European Carbon Cycle).
- BSc Hons and PhD at University of Tasmania, with PhD Thesis title "Cosmic X-Ray Surveys". Continued X-ray astronomy for 4 Years at Simon Fraser University Canada as a PostDoc / Research Associate.
- Joined CSIRO to carry out Micrometeorology research (heat and moisture fluxes from land and sea surfaces).
- After 3-4 years moved into Tree Ring research, with the aim of reconstructing atmospheric CO2 from carbon isotopes in trees (and proved it would not work, but enjoyed leading a series of multi-institutional and international expeditions, "The Stanley River Expeditions" into the forests of western Tasmania).
- Was seconded from CSIRO 1981-83 to be the first scientific director of the new Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station, Tasmania, helping to establish it as a premier station in the United Nations Environment Program Global Atmosphere Watch program (and once described by Barry Jones as the "jewel in the crown" of his science portfolio).
- In the early 1990s, established the Global Atmospheric Sampling Laboratory (GASLAB) in Aspendale, and later advised on the establishment of similar GASLABs in Germany and France. CSIRO GASLAB plays a critical underpinning role for Cape Grim, maintains a global atmospheric composition sampling network, and has provided unmatched records of archived air, including from ice cores.
- Assisted with the development of several measurement methods, in particular the LoFlo CO2 analyser, which remains by far the most precise and stable system available for the measurement of atmospheric CO2.
- Shared, with Paul Steele, the Victoria Prize in 2001, and was awarded a Federation Fellowship in 2003 (which did not survive economic restructuring within CSIRO).
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- Abstract for the Talk Recent slowing in atmospheric CO2 growth.
Trends in global atmospheric CO2 since 1990 do not reflect trends in emission estimates; this is not required under the Kyoto protocol and has escaped detailed scrutiny. Recent global carbon budget models accomodate this by overestimating uncertainty in the atmospheric trends. Careful selection of data to avoid measurement and sampling bias, and a statistical description of the influence of short-term (ENSO and volcanic) influence on CO2 growth, greatly reduces uncertainty and suggest that much-publicised recent acceleration of global emissions is likely an artefact of underestimation of 1990s emissions. Whatever the biogeochemical explanation, mean atmospheric CO2 growth since 2000 has slowed.
- Summaries of the late-2009 knowledge about the global carbon budget can be found on: http://lgmacweb.env.uea.ac.uk/lequere/co2/carbon_budget.htm http://www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/6/10583/2009/
Dr Francey's talk challenges and offers an alternate interpretation of changes in the 'natural CO2 sinks' presented by both papers.
