Physics Colloquium

Maureen E. Raymo, Ph.D., Bruce C. Heezen/Lamont Research Professor and director of the Lamont-Doherty Core Repository at Columbia University, will present, “Climate, CO2, and Sea Level: Past is Prologue.”

The Earth is running a fever. The ongoing pollution of our atmosphere by an invisible odorless gas called carbon dioxide is trapping heat at the Earth’s surface and causing temperatures to rise on land and in the ocean. The polar regions are warming fastest of all and the melting ice sheets are causing sea levels to rise around the globe. This talk will review evidence for climate change—natural and human-caused—and explore how ice sheets and sea level changed in the past. How fast the climate changes in the future will depend on our collective actions as individuals, families, communities, and governments.