Opening Ceremony
Monday, 1st August 2022, 07:30-08:30 UTC
The Weyprecht Lecture
Understanding and Projecting the Antarctic Ice Sheet:
A Community Challenge
Tuesday, 2nd August 2022, 13:00-14:00 UTC
Antarctica, the remote ice-covered continent, is now known to be experiencing complex mass change since the first satellite observations. Its evolution – in response to current and future climate change – remains the largest uncertain source of global sea level on human timescales and beyond. The urgency of potential sea level has resulted in tremendous progress in interdisciplinary research: projections of Antarctica are no longer simply an ice sheet modeling problem, knowledge of how the atmosphere and ocean will change in a warming climate is also key. This presentation will review recent advances in Antarctic projections and demonstrate the power of international community efforts. This will be followed by challenges faced by community modeling and observational projects, but more importantly all that has been learned by these intercomparisons, and reflections on future opportunities.
Prof. Sophie Nowicki
University at Buffalo, USA
Sophie Nowicki is Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Geology at the University at Buffalo. Her research focuses on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, their connections to the Earth’s climate system and their impact on sea level. Through applied mathematics, remote sensing observations and numerical modeling, her work spans the spectrum of local processes, to that of large-scale continental ice sheet models and their use in projections of sea level change. As sea level projections from ice sheet models require knowledge of atmospheric and oceanic conditions that drive ice sheet evolution, Sophie is also interested in how to improve climate models in the polar regions, as well as the use of multiple models for projections.
Professor Nowicki is a member of the NASA Sea Level Change Team, an executive committee member for the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (IMBIE), a member of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) and a member of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Sea Level Change and Coastal Impacts Grand Challenge. She is the Division Head for Ice Sheets for the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS). Sophie is known for her leadership of ice sheet modeling intercomparison projects (SeaRISE and ISMIP6), which reflect her passion for community efforts. She was invited to be a lead author on the IPCC 6th Assessment Report Chapter on “Ocean, cryosphere and sea level change”.
Sophie holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Glaciology from University College London (UK), an MSc in Remote Sensing and Image Processing from The University of Edinburgh (UK). She was a Research Scientist and Deputy Chief for the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. She has received numerous awards including that of NASA Cryospheric Sciences Most Valuable Player, awards for Outstanding Publications and Scientific Achievements. She is most proud of her mentoring award (the Robert Goddard Honor Award for Mentoring) which recognizes not only her work with postdocs and young scientists, but also the amazing work that they did.
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About the Weyprecht Lecture
The Weyprecht Lecture was first introduced at the 3rd SCAR Open Science Conference in 2008 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Open Science Conference in 2008 was also the first of three International Polar Year 2007-2008 Conferences and the first joint SCAR-IASC polar science conferences. The theme of the conference was “Polar Research – Arctic and Antarctic Perspectives in the International Polar Year and it was fitting to recognize Karl Weyprecht as one of the proponents of the 1st international Polar Year 1882-1883. His pioneering concepts on the basics principles of Arctic research suggested that fixed observation stations should be established to take regular measurements of weather and ice conditions with identical devices and at pre-established intervals. These principles are foundational to much of the modern era of polar science. The International Polar Year (IPY), 1882-83, was the first worldwide coordinated scientific enterprise and has been judged as the most significant single event in the founding of the science of geophysics.
Past Weyprecht Lectures
2008: Prof. Robin Bell – The Gamburtsev Mountains: An Unexplored Frontier
2010: Dr. John Carlstrom – Astronomy in Antarctica
2012: Dr. Robert “Bob” Bindschadler – Glaciers, Ice Sheet Mass Balance and Sea Level
2014: Prof. Richard Bellerby – Southern Ocean Acidification
2016: Prof. Christina Hulbe – The Ross Ice Shelf: 190 Years (or more) of Exploration
2018: Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Thomas – Frozen in Time: Unlocking the Earth’s Climate History Using Ice Cores
2020: Dr. Valérie Masson-Delmotte – Climate Change, Antarctica and the IPCC AR6
The David Walton Antarctic Science Lecture
Southern Ocean diversity and connectivity:
surprises and new directions
Wednesday, 3rd August 2022, 22:00-23:00 UTC
The Southern Ocean surrounds Antarctica, with strong, eastward circumpolar currents and winds, and has been considered something of a moat, keeping the Antarctic biologically isolated from the rest of the world. Within the Antarctic, diverse endemic marine species flourish, many showing unique adaptations to their challenging environments. Interdisciplinary studies are, however, indicating that the Southern Ocean is frequently crossed by passively-dispersing organisms travelling thousands of kilometres from northern source populations. The unique ecosystems of Antarctica are therefore likely to have been more a consequence of environmental extremes in the region than of isolation. With warming, numerous sub-Antarctic or temperate species might establish in the Antarctic, even without human-mediated transport of organisms to the region. Our knowledge of native biodiversity in Antarctica has been hampered by the logistical challenges of sampling in rough, icy seas far from human settlements, and these large knowledge gaps create flow-on challenges for managing ecosystems at risk of rapid and dramatic change. This talk will look at progress in interdisciplinary studies of Southern Ocean connectivity, and outline directions for future research priorities.
A/Prof. Ceridwen Fraser
University of Otago, New Zealand
Associate Professor Ceridwen (Crid) Fraser leads a research group at the University of Otago, New Zealand, focussing on biodiversity dynamics of the high-latitude ecosystems of the Southern Hemisphere (the sub-Antarctic and Antarctica). Her group’s research often combines molecular ecology (e.g., phylogenomics) with aspects of earth sciences (e.g., oceanography, geology, and spatial environmental modelling) to understand the processes that shape broad-scale patterns of biodiversity.
Crid has worked and / or studied at six universities across three countries (Australia, Belgium and New Zealand), and gained her PhD in 2009. She was based at the Australian National University for several years, where she built her reputation in Southern Hemisphere biogeography. She returned to her doctoral alma mater, the University of Otago, to take up a position in the Department of Marine Science in early 2019.
The impact of Crid’s work has been recognised by several awards including the Australian Capital Territory Scientist of the Year (2016), the Australian Academy of Science Fenner Medal for outstanding contributions to biological sciences (2018), the International Biogeography Society’s mid-career MacArthur and Wilson Award (2019), a Future Fellowship (Australia), and a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (New Zealand). In 2018 she presented at the World Economic Forum (Davos) on Antarctic biodiversity research priorities.
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About the David Walton Antarctic Science Lecture
The David Walton Antarctic Science Lecture is sponsored by the Journal Antarctic Science honoring its long-time editor Prof DWH Walton. David was active in many areas of Antarctic science and policy, especially for SCAR. He was the 2016 recipient of the SCAR Medal for International Scientific Coordination and represented SCAR at many Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings. He was the Chair of SCAR’s Group of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation (GOSEAC), and editor of the SCAR Antarctic Environments Portal. Later in his career he served as Chief Editor for the reports of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings. David established the scientific journal Antarctic Science in 1989 and served as its Chief Editor until his untimely passing in 2019. He was a prolific author contributing to, compiling, and editing six books on research in Antarctica.
Closing Ceremony
Friday, 5th August 2022, 09:00-11:00 UTC
& SCAR Medal Awardee Lectures
SCAR aims to recognize members of the community who have outstanding records of achievement in the areas of research and service by awarding SCAR Medals. Medals are awarded biennially at the SCAR Open Science Conferences.
- Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research
- Medal for International Coordination
- Medal for Education and Communication
The Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research and the Medal for International Coordination were first awarded in 2006, with the Medal for Education and Communication being added in 2018. Past awardees can be viewed at: https://www.scar.org/awards/medals/awardees.