Jones Seminar: Ice Sheet Evolution—Combining observations and models to improve future projections

Optional ZOOM LINK
Meeting ID: 962 3557 9087
Passcode: 651327

Rising sea level poses a critical global challenge, with profound impacts on coastal communities and ecosystems. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are major contributors to sea level rise, and represent today the largest source of uncertainty in future sea level projections. Over the past three decades, the number and quality of observations have increase rapidly, enabling detailed reconstructions of ice sheet evolution and mass loss. However, critical englacial and subglacial processes remain poorly understood due to the lack of direct observations, contributing to significant uncertainties in ice sheet models.

In this presentation, we will explore the dominant sources of uncertainty in ice sheet projections at both the continental scale and for individual glaciers. We will highlight how integrating satellite observations, field data, and high-resolution models has advanced our characterization of properties and understanding of processes at the ice base, which are otherwise inaccessible. Finally, we will discuss remaining challenges in ice sheet modeling and outline future research directions essential for refining sea level predictions and improving confidence in projections.

Hosted by Professor Erland Schulson.

About the Speaker(s)

Hélène Seroussi
Associate Professor of Engineering, Dartmouth

Hélène Seroussi is an associate professor of engineering at Dartmouth. Her research interests are focused on better understanding and explaining ongoing changes in the cryosphere, reducing uncertainties in sea level rise using numerical modeling, and understanding interactions of ice and climate by combining process studies and state-of-the-art numerical modeling with remote sensing and in situ data. She is one of the co-founders and core developers of the Ice-sheet and Sea-level System Model (ISSM), is a member of the steering committee of the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison project for CMIP (ISMIP6 and ISMIP7), and served on the editorial board of the Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface. Professor Seroussi received her PhD and master's degrees from École Centrale Paris in France.

Contact

For more information, contact Ashley Parker at ashley.l.parker@dartmouth.edu.