“A Climate of Concern:
The View from the Past”
Australian
Antarctic Division and Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC
Wednesday,
15 September 2004, 8:00 P.M.
Physics
Lecture Theatre 1
University
of Tasmania, Sandy Bay
Abstract:
Climate
change is an issue of wide current concern; exploited by Hollywood, feared by
some, denied by others and perplexing to most. This talk looks at how our
understanding of past climate change is fundamental to detection of present
change, to attribution of causes and to climate prediction. These are areas of
some contention, although arguably less so among practicing climate scientists.
Over
the long-term, Earth’s climate has showed large natural variations and the
human experience, especially the recorded experience, is rooted in an era of
modest and gradual changes. How unusual is the present climate? How might the
unquestionable influence of human activity on the planet affect the climate
system? These basic questions can only be assessed by understanding past
changes.
One
of the best sources of past climate information is the ice deposited in the
major ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, and this talk will look at some
examples of how ice core climate studies, particularly those of the Australian
Antarctic Program, are adding to our knowledge in this area.
Dr.
Tas van Ommen is a Principal Research Scientist in the Glaciology Program of
the Australian Antarctic Division, based at the Antarctic Climate and
Ecosystems CRC. He is involved in research on climate reconstructions from ice
cores and has contributed widely to published science in this field, including
the 2001 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Tas
van Ommen holds a PhD in radioastronomy from the University of Tasmania. He is
also a trained teacher, having taught at secondary and tertiary levels.
Following his PhD, Dr van Ommen worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory where
he was involved in very long baseline interferometry. He returned to Tasmania
in 1994, taking a position with the Australian Antarctic Division and shifting
his research field to studies of ice cores and climate.