Meeting Ice & Rising Seas - How Much? How Fast?

For millions of years Earth’s climate has been dominated by ice with the last Ice Age ending only 12,000 years ago (in very recent geological time). Currently we enjoy an “interglacial period” called the Holocene.  Much is known about why ice ages and interglacial come and go on Earth. The drivers of these changes come from orbital dynamics: specifically changes in orbital eccentricity, axial tilt and axial precession. So where to from here? Scientific observations show us that the climate is warming and that the seas are rising. Measurements of harbour water levels confirm the latter and modern satellite data prove the point even more precisely. However, while much is known about the past, the way ahead is obscured - principally because of human interventions in the climate system. Humanity currently injects 37 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases per year into the narrow band that is Earth’s atmosphere. 

In this talk Dr Chopra will discuss the uncertainties of the future paths of ice volume and sea level, the machinations of the imperfect IPCC process and the likely consequences for us all.

Dr Chopra is a geologist and geophysicist and before retirement was a well-known Reader in Geophysics at ANU.  In 2000 he co-founded Geodynamics Ltd, the world’s first publicly listed hot rock energy company and served as a director for more than a decade. He has a longstanding interest both in Earth’s climate and Earth’s internal heat providing opportunities for green energy.

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