Thursday, April 25th, 2024
7:30 - 9:30 PM
Doors @ 7

Roughly 70% of our planet’s surface area is covered by water. Our oceans are not just a pretty view to enjoy while we sip piña coladas, but they control global weather patterns and are home to over 200,000 animal species (roughly 90% of all animal life in the world!).

Climate change has had drastic effects on the physical and chemical properties of our oceans that experts predict will have untold consequences on life on Earth without urgent action.

Join us for two talks by scientists that investigate some of the different ways that climate change and emissions are changing our oceans as we know them, and how we can adapt.

Speakers:

David Holland, Ph.D.

Disappearing Ice in a Warming World

David Michael Holland is a Professor of Mathematics and Environmental Science at New York University (NYU). His research focuses on using mathematics to understand mechanisms by which significant sea-level change could arise from the great ice sheets, Greenland, and Antarctica, over the coming decades in an ever-warming world. He applies advanced applied mathematical techniques to data collected in remote environments. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles on polar environmental science. In 2000, he was awarded an NSF Career Award and was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2023, as well as a Fellow of The Explorer's Club.

Ice is quickly disappearing from our planet, raising sea levels. This past year has been the warmest on record. In the deep past, sea levels have risen rapidly. The same may happen going forward, rewriting the global coastline. I'll take you on my career-long journey to forecast sea levels by predicting the fate of the great ice sheets. Beyond adapting to a sea level rise, we also need to consider the potential for geoengineering the planet’s ice cover.

Bärbel Hönisch, Ph.D.

Carbon dioxide, climate, and the oceans

Dr. Hönisch grew up and studied in Germany, since 2007 she is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. She is interested in the effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations on climate and the oceans, including past variations of seawater acidity. As she was originally trained as a marine biologist, her research includes culture experiments to calibrate marine calcifying organisms as stand-ins for past environmental conditions. She uses these calibrations to reconstruct seawater acidity and atmospheric CO2 variations through Earth history. Over the past 7 years she has led a consortium of experts to evaluate paleo-CO2 estimates over the past 65 million years.