- Download the Byrd Center 2020 Climate Symposium Report (PDF) (updated November, 2020).
- Symposium videos are now available.
Symposium on Climate Change Research
Friday, October 9, 2020
8:50am - 3:50pm
Online via Zoom
Goal and Structure
Developed with input from last year’s participants, the intent of this year’s symposium is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration on climate change research at OSU.
Discussion and planning are facilitated through the use of Breakout Groups in two sessions. Each session will start with short preview talks on each of the proposed discussion topics, followed by 1 hour of group discussions, run concurrently, with a designated leader and rapporteur. Each session will end with a plenary discussion of next steps.
Symposium Schedule: Friday, October 9, 2020, 8:50am - 3:50pm
| Time | Session | Facilitator: |
| 8:50 | Welcome and Keynote Introduction: Ian Howat | |
| 9:00 | Keynote Speaker: Dr. Aparna Bole Climate and Public Health | |
| 9:35 | Break One | |
| 9:45 | Breakout Session One: | |
| Agriculture and Food Security | Brian Snyder | |
| Building Environment, Urban Systems, Transportation, and Cities | Elena Irwin | |
| Climate and Public Health | David Kline | |
| Climate Justice and Equity | Joel Wainwright | |
| 11:15 | Break Two | |
11:30
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| 1:15 | Break Three | |
| 1:30 | Keynote Introduction, Ian Howat | |
| 1:35 | Keynote Speaker: Dr. Marta Jarzyna Climate and Biodiversity | |
| 2:10 | Break Four | |
| 2:20 | Breakout Session Two: | |
| Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services | Marta Jarzyna | |
| Climate Change: Variability and Extremes | Peter Craigmile | |
| Surface Water Resources and Accessibility | Mike Durand | |
| Engaging with the Public and Policy Makers | Robyn Wilson | |
| 3:50 | Adjourn. Thank you for participating! | |
Falling dominoes? Ice, climate, sea level and our future
ABSTRACT: Sea level is rising because of human-caused warming, impacting coastal communities. Shrinkage of the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland is contributing, and could accelerate in the future. History and physics show that warming melts ice, and that too much warming triggers rapid iceberg calving. Visitors to Glacier Bay in Alaska now sail more than 60 miles into a fjord that held ice up to a mile thick when George Vancouver visited in 1794, and many other fjords have rapidly “unzipped” into their mountains or ice sheet. If a similar retreat is triggered in any of the major Antarctic basins holding far more ice, more than 10 feet of additional sea-level rise could occur in the following century or less. Exciting scientific advances will be needed to reduce the remaining large uncertainties.