Beneath their monotonous flat white surfaces, Earth’s big ice sheets hide continental landscapes with volcanos, lakes and mountain ranges. In this dark, mysterious environment, water runs uphill, and pulses slowly through giant lakes, and drains suddenly in surprise floods. These ancient masses of ice are changing as warming oceans trigger faster flow along their edges, and as hotter air temperatures melt their surfaces, raising sea levels around the globe.

Join us on February 12th for a lecture on the secret world of the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets. Professor Robin Bell will introduce the beauty, structure and inner workings of the planet’s big ice sheets, and the landscapes and water networks beneath them. She will also present the evidence for the ongoing human caused changes to both poles.

Professor Bell is the Palisades Geophysical Institute Lamont Research Professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. An expert on the structure of polar ice sheets, she has developed unique instrumentation to image their inner workings and the landscapes below. Bell received her undergraduate degree in geology from Middlebury College in Vermont and her Ph.D. in geophysics from Columbia University in 1989. A Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) elected in 2011 in recognition for her advances in cryosphere science, she has received an honorary degree from Middlebury College and has an Antarctic Mountain named after her. During the International Polar Year, which she helped launch, Bell led a major expedition to Antarctica to explore the last unknown mountain range on Earth, the Gamburtsev Mountains, which are completely covered with ice. She initiated major programs that opened the doors of science during her tenure as AGU president (2019–2020) and throughout her career at Lamont. A passionate sailor, she and her husband, Karl Coplan, recently completed a two handed 2 year circumnavigation of our planet on a small sailboat.

About Us

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory seeks fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution, and future of the natural world. Its scientists study the planet from its deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean, providing a rational basis for the difficult choices facing humanity.

Event Details

Reception: 6:00 - 7:00 PM

Lecture: 7:00 - 8:00 PM

Parking: Oceanography Parking Lot

Shuttle Information: Shuttles to/from Morningside Campus will be running on the normal schedule. The last shuttle to Morningside Campus will be 7:00 PM.

Check In: Please check in at the registration table in Monell Lobby.

Registrations are closed

Earth’s Big Ice: Ancient, Mysterious and Changing