Global Warming: Not Just Another Trend, Says Geologist
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 The Earth has seen many periods of warming and cooling over the eons, but nothing like the heat wave that's occurring now, says one of the world's leading experts on glacial geology.
P. Jay Fleisher, a professor emeritus at the State University of New York at Oneonta, has studied glaciers for decades, most recently at the Bering Glacier in Alaska, where he directs the Earthwatch Institute's long-term research program at the site.
He will discuss his findings at a public lecture, "Climate Change Linked to Glacial Fluctuation: A Geologic Perspective," on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. in the Rozsa Center.
While most scientists agree that humans are causing rapid climate change through the production of millions of tons of greenhouse gases, skeptics argue that climate has undergone many warming and cooling trends, most of them before humans populated the Earth, and that the current warming trend is simply another natural cycle.
Fleisher will show how ancient records of climate change can be read in glaciers, and how the present warming of the Earth (and melting of the glaciers) is happening on an unprecedented scale.
An acknowledged expert on glaciers and glacial geology, Fleisher has spent decades in Alaska and Iceland studying ice flows. He has published extensively, is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, and has been the principal investigator on grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and numerous other local and regional agencies and foundations.
For more information, contact John Gierke, jsgierke@mtu.edu . |
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12/4/2007 |