Thursday, May 17, 2007
Recent changes in Greenland and Antarctica and their uncertain contribution to sea level rise
The recent 4th IPCC assessment make several statements such as "The ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland could raise sea level greatly. Central parts of these ice sheets have been observed to change only slowly, but near the coast rapid changes over quite large areas have been observed. In these areas, uncertainties about glacier basal conditions, ice deformation and interactions with the surrounding ocean seriously limit the ability to make accurate projections." This talk will review and describe the recent changes in Greenland and Antarctica and the processes responsible for these changes.
Ian Joughin is a researcher in the University of Washington's Applied Physics Lab Polar Science Center. Dr. Joughin does pioneering research into the use of differential SAR interferometry for the estimation of surface motion and topography of ice sheets. He combines the remote sensing with field work and modeling to solve ice dynamics problems. Solving the problems helps him understand the mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets in response to climate change. In addition to polar research, Dr. Joughin also contributed to the development of algorithms that were used to mosaic data for the near-global map of topography from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM).