GESS Lecture: “Storms & Tipping Points: Decoding Rapid Arctic Change"
University of Richmond, VA 23173
Speaker: Chelsea Parker, Research Scientist
Cryospheric Sciences Lab at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Abstract:
Since the 1980s, the Arctic has warmed roughly four times faster than the rest of the Earth. This phenomenon, known as Arctic amplification, has caused a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice extent, concentration, thickness, and snowpack depth, resulting in a “New Arctic” dominated by younger and thinner ice. Not only is thinner, fractured ice more vulnerable to atmospheric and oceanic warming, but increased open water also further amplifies warming. I use research that combines remote sensing, math, and regional climate modelling, and I explore how changes in this sea ice-atmosphere feedback, specifically regarding extreme weather events like arctic cyclones and atmospheric rivers. These sea-ice-change-driven weather events are both hazardous to local communities and ecosystems and, in turn, further influence sea ice mass balance in a critical feedback relation
Each year, the Department of Geography, Environment, & Sustainability, the Environmental Studies Program, and the Global Studies Program partner to bring noteworthy speakers and scholars to Richmond to present lectures related to our global environment. This event is sponsored in part by the Class of 1992 Fund.
All events are free and open to the public.
