-with M Smith, G Dipre, and A Shastry
Tickets available at Shadowbox Live
Climate is complicated! The time scales are long and there is so much data, and climate effects everything from bacteria to slugs to us. To learn more about climate this month we have three presenters all working towards their doctorate degrees at The Ohio State University. Each of our speakers works on an area of science that has insight into climate, past, present and future.
Geoff Dipre wants to know more about what the Arctic looked like 1 to 5 million years ago, when their was less ice in the region. To look back at ancient oceans, Geoff uses sediment cores taken from the seafloor. He is also looking for microfossils of animals called Foraminifera, which provide information about these past environments. Looking at these ancient ocean sediments gives him insight to understand what the Arctic will look like, as its climate continues to rapidly change.
Megan Smith studies the last glacial maximum. During the last ice age Canada and most of the upper United States was covered in glaciers. As the glaciers receded animals repopulated the newly exposed land including the terrestrial gastropods- you may know them as the amazing animal, the slug. But what happened to slugs when they came back into contact with populations they had not interacted with for thousands of years? How much change is too much change?
Apoorva Shastry is interested in modeling flood zones in Africa. The challenge is that many areas do not have accurate elevation maps, so correctly predicting where and how the flood propagates is difficult. Using satellite images of past floods along with her models, she can back calculate the topography of landscapes thousands of miles away. She then uses her improved elevation maps to better predict flood location and timing.
Come join us on May 2nd to learn more about all of their work as part of the COSI Science Festival!
