Physics Seminar: Past and Contemporary Climate Change: Evidence from Earth’s Cryosphere

Physics Seminar: Past and Contemporary Climate Change:  Evidence from Earth’s Cryosphere

Ellen Mosley-Thompson

Distinguished University Professor

Senior Research Scientist and past Director, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center

The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Ellen Mosley-Thompson uses the chemical and physical properties preserved in cores collected from both polar ice sheets and high mountain glaciers to reconstruct Earth’s complex climate history. These records indicate that Earth’s climate has moved outside the range of natural variability experienced over at least the last 2000 years. She has led nine expeditions to Antarctica and six to Greenland to retrieve ice cores. In 2010 she led the field team for the ice core drilling project on Bruce Plateau (Antarctic Peninsula), a U.S. contribution to the International Polar Year, where the team collected a 448-meter core to bedrock. She has published 136 peer-reviewed papers, is the recipient of 53 research grants, and has led 16 field projects. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.