The Lamont Earth Science Colloquium presents:
Deciphering the Patterns and Time Scales of Sea Level Change
with Dr. Jerry Mitrovica, Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University.
Sea-level change resulting from melting ice sheets and glaciers is characterized by significant spatial variability and is highly dependent on the timescale of ice mass flux. I’ll describe how the geometry of sea level differs as one considers very long term (order 106-108 years), ice age (103-106 years) and modern (100-102 years) episodes of ice mass flux, and how these patterns inform critical questions in paleo and modern climate. Case studies will be presented involving past estimates of long-term “eustatic” sea level, the detection of polar ice sheet melt during past interglacials, the fingerprint of Greenland Ice Sheet mass flux in satellite observations of sea surface height changes, and the escalating risks faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in a progressively warming world.
Host: Dr. Jacqueline Austermann, Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
The Earth Science Colloquium Series, sponsored by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia University Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DEES), provides a lively forum for discussing a wide variety of topics within the Earth sciences and related fields. Colloquia are attended by the full range of scientific and technical staff at LDEO. Colloquium attendance is required of all pre-orals DEES graduate students.
