Dr Colin Summerhayes
fmr Executive Director SCAR

Wednesday 18th January
Bureau of Meteorology Conference Room Hobart

Abstract
Despite global warming, the ozone hole is keeping Antarctica colder that it would be otherwise and making sea ice grow – the opposite of what we see in the Arctic. The Antarctic Peninsula is warming, affecting penguins.  East Antarctica, however, is still cold.  Warm ocean currents reach the continental shelf off West Antarctica, melting glaciers from beneath and making them speed up.  Antarctica and Greenland are now both losing land ice, making sea level rise faster than expected.  In future the continent will warm more, land ice will melt more, sea ice will shrink, and penguin productivity will drop.  There are significant implications for coastal communities globally in the impending sea-level rise.  Making accurate studies of the Antarctica and Southern Ocean environment to monitor ongoing change and forecast future change calls on the skills of all the sciences, and provides challenging and exciting research opportunities for the future.