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Wednesday, March 27, 2019. 7:00 PM.  Webcast: Sea Level Rise and What We Should Do About It.  Eric Rignot, UC Irvine. Sponsored by National Academy of Sciences. More information.

Public Lecture: Sea Level Rise from Melting Ice Sheets, and What We Should Do About It

How are melting ice sheets causing sea level rise and what can we do about it? The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, along with glaciers and ice caps around the world, are melting faster than anticipated as a result of climate change caused by greenhouse gases from human activities. This rapid evolution--resulting from complex interactions between the atmosphere, the ocean, and ice--has been captured in great detail by a growing body of observational platforms that include satellites, aircraft, underwater floats, and autonomous gliders. In this talk, Dr. Eric Rignot will cover how and why the ice sheets are melting and what we can do about it. Practical solutions exist that are economically viable and ethically desirable, including transforming our energy production system and developing scalable carbon sequestration strategies. At stake is whether the world will be irreversibly committed to a multiple meter rise in sea level with potentially catastrophic consequences.

Eric Rignot is the Donald Bren Professor of Earth System Science, Chair of the Department of Earth System Science, School of Physical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and a Senior Research Scientist at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Rignot’s research interests include glaciology, ice dynamics, ice-ocean interaction, climate change, ice/ocean numerical modeling, remote sensing, and field work. One goal of his research group is to better understand the interaction of ice and climate to yield realistic projections of the contribution of ice sheets to sea level rise. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has received NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the Louis Agassiz Division Medal of the European Geophysical Union, and the Nobel Peace Prize with co-authors of IPCC AR4 in 2007. His research has been covered by the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, BBC, Arte, CNN, PBS/NOVA, National Geographic, Rolling Stones, and the New York Times. He has been featured in “An Inconvenient Sequel” (2018), HBO VICE News (2015), “Chasing Ice” (2012) and “Naked Science” (2004).