Planet Earth Distinguished Lecture 2022 The lecture was held at the Dynamic Earth on Tuesday 5th April 2022 and featured Professor Penny Holliday from the National Oceanography Centre. Date: 5th April 2022 Time: 6pm Place: Dynamic Earth, Holyrood Rd, Edinburgh, EH8 8AS MAP If you missed the lecture - no problem - watch it here at your convenience: HTML About the lecture Title: Sea change in the climate system: the challenge to understand and predict global ocean circulation Abstract: The consequence of our emissions of greenhouse gases over the past century has been to radically change the global climate system. The effects are felt most strongly in the ocean where more than 90% of the excess heat trapped in the climate system has been taken up over the past 50 years. As the ocean warms the impacts that we feel include rising sea level, damaging marine heat waves, and the detrimental impacts of reduced oxygen and rising acidity on marine ecosystems. But the ocean is not warming at the same rate everywhere; sea level is not rising uniformly but has strong regional variations. Climate models have been accurately predicting the global mean increase in temperature and sea level for many years, but being able to describe the coming local changes is what matters to people and communities and remains one of the foremost scientific challenges of our age. The key to skilful prediction lies in understanding large-scale and regional ocean circulation. The models used for seasonal, decadal and climate forecasts need to be able to represent the processes by which ocean currents move heat, oxygen and carbon around the world. In this lecture I will explore some of the key challenges and innovative approaches to understanding and predicting global ocean circulation change. Programme 6.00pm Doors open 6.00-7.00pm Welcome Tea & Coffee 7.00-8.20pm Public Lecture and Q&A session 8.20-10.00pm Drinks reception with the opportunity to visit the Dynamic Earth Galleries This article was published on 2024-07-01
