How warm is too warm for Antarctica? 3-million-year-old lessons from a higher-CO2 world

Presentation: “How warm is too warm for Antarctica? 3-million-year-old lessons from a higher-CO2 world” by Christina Riesselman

February 4th (Tuesday), 6 p.m., Social half-hour; please join us from 5:30-6:00 to enjoy free soft drinks and appetizers before our talk begins!

Live at the Teton County Library & Via Zoom (online)

Nearly a decade ago, 195 nations signed onto the Paris Agreement, codifying a global commitment to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.” Yet 2024 is set to mark a grim milestone: our first full year with surface temperatures consistently sitting at least 1.5°C above the pre-industrial temperature baseline. 

So how much difference can another half degree really make? Marine sediments from the Southern Ocean and Antarctic continental margin preserve a snapshot of what Earth was like 3 million years ago, the last time atmospheric CO2 rose to 400 ppm and Earth’s surface was 2° warmer. In this seminar, I will share five lessons from the geologic past, based on biological and geochemical proxy evidence, that demonstrate the vulnerability of our cryosphere and ocean to this “acceptable” level of warming. 

Antarctic Research

Iceberg

Topic: How warm is too warm for Antarctica? 3-million-year-old lessons from a higher-CO2 world

Time: Tuesday, February 4th, 2025, 06:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4555651818?pwd=U09ObDNZOEIyZmRtMEtsdUowQnJqdz09
Meeting ID: 455 565 1818
Passcode: 576063