The Future of Ice: What We Do (and Don’t) Know About Climate Change in Polar Regions, March 13

– Geology Lecture Series at Southwestern – SWOCC release – Coos Bay, OR – Southwestern’s geology lecture series continues when Dr. Eric Steig presents “The Future of Ice: What we Do (and Don’t) Know About Climate Change in Polar Regions” on Friday, March 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm. Geology Lecture Series talks are free and are held in the Hales Center for the Performing Arts on Southwestern’s Coos Campus, 1988 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay. Dr. Eric Steig is the Department of Earth and Space Sciences Chair at the University of Washington, is a glaciologist and isotope geochemist who studies how the climate behaved in the past to learn what it can tell us both about the effects of climate change today, and how it will change in the future. He uses ice core records to study climate variability over thousands of years. He works on the geological history and dynamics of ice sheets, as well as on aspects of atmospheric chemistry, and develops novel laboratory research tools in isotope geochemistry. He is the founding co-director of ISOLAB, a state-of-the art isotope geochemistry facility involving research ranging from climate, atmospheric chemistry and neotectonics, to geobiology, aquatic science and fisheries. In addition to his research and teaching, he is committed to fostering greater public understanding of the effects of climate change, and is a founding member of RealClimate.org. Dr. Steig earned his bachelor’s degree from Hampshire College, and master’s and PhD degrees from the University of Washington. He completed postdoctoral research with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado. He was research faculty at University of Colorado, served on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and then returned to the faculty at University of Washington. He currently is the Rabinowitz Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Earth & Space Sciences. Among his many awards, Eric received the Bassett Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Washington and in 2019 he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His extensive list of publications are in many of the leading scientific journals including Nature and Science. Starting at 6:30 pm, and after the talk, representatives of several local organizations will be available in the Hales Center Lobby including: The Coquille Tribe, South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Rogue Climate, Southwestern’s “Just Us” Club, Surfrider Foundation, Washed Ashore, CoastWatch, and Northwest Aquatic and Marine Educators. For those not able to attend in person, all lectures are Livestreamed and archived, with access from the College’s web site at https://livestream.com/SWOCC/geology2019-20. Additional talks in the series for this academic year include: Dr. Sean Davis (NOAA) on “Lessons at the School of Hard Knocks: From the Ozone Hole to Global Climate Change” on April 24, 2020, and Dr. Ginny Edgcomb (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) an Ocean Drilling Program distinguished lecturer with “Life at the Edge of What is Possible: Microbial Biosignatures in the Lower Oceanic Crust” on May 16, 2020. Lecture series sponsors include DB Western, The Mill Casino, IRIS/SSA, Ocean Discovery Lecture Series, the Southwestern Foundation and the College. For additional information, please contact Ron Metzger at 541-888-7216.