Both ice sheets and sea ice are changing rapidly in the polar regions. The Arctic is widely regarded as the most sensitive part of the global climate system. This talk will explore the natureof polar ice, the climate changes which we are experiencing and how these changes are likely to affect issues such as global sea-level over the coming century.
Prof Julian A Dowdeswell ScD is a glaciologist, working on the form and flow of glaciers and ice caps and their response to climate change, and the links between former ice sheets and the marine geological record, using a variety of satellite, airborne and shipborne geophysical tools. In a career of over 30 years, he has has taught in the Universities of Aberystwyth, Bristol and Cambridge. Since 2002, he has been Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute and Professor of Physical Geography in Cambridge University, and is Brian Buckley Fellow in Polar Science at Jesus College.
Julian was awarded the Polar Medal by Her Majesty the Queen for ‘outstanding contributions to glacier geophysics’ and has also received the Founder’s Gold Medal (2008) from the Royal Geographical Society. In 2011 he was awarded the Louis Agassiz Medal by the European Geosciences Union for ‘outstanding contributions to the study of polar ice masses and to the understanding of the processes and patterns of sedimentation in glacier-influenced marine environments.’ In 2014 he was received the IASC Medal from the International Arctic Science Committee ‘as a World leader in the field of Arctic glaciologyand for his outreach and communication activities which have been instrumental for public understanding of Arctic change’. Julian has also spoken recently on polar environmental change at the World Economic Forum in Davos and represented the UK at a White House meeting on the Arctic.
Venue: Cellar Bar, Kennaway House, EX10 8NG, booking required – see button on the top right of this page.
Free.
This lecture has been sponsored by the Jurassic Coast Trust.