Join the Department of Geography for the Colloquium Series talk with Schmitty Thompson on "Our Icy Planet Through the Ages: Glaciers of the Past as a Key to a Rapidly Warming Future."

Free and open to the public

Our planet's recent history is characterized by the growth and decay of glaciers, and their larger cousins the ice sheets, as part of ice age cycles. Understanding how and why glaciers change during the ice ages helps us not only put together a picture of the past, but provides clues on how our planet's ice may respond to the anthropogenic climate change which characterizes our future. I will walk through my research on different time periods in the last ice age and discuss how the results fit into a larger picture of our planet's icy past and rapidly warming future. 

Schmitty Thompson is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Geography at the University of Oregon. They study the Greenland ice sheet and how it has changed over the last few centuries, as part of a larger interest in how ice has shaped the history of our planet. Additionally, they are passionate about earth & climate science communication through classroom visits, museum outreach, and talking about rocks to anyone who will listen.