![]() On this episode, we talk about the climate crisis, how adventurers and scientists can work together and about gender bias in climate science.įollow Dr. Irreversible ice loss is just one of many reasons we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now.” Investing in infrastructure and committing to reduce greenhouse gases are encouraging steps, but more action is needed. Kay stresses: “We have a shared climate future. What will happen to the billions of dollars, lives, and ecosystems that depend on coastal environments? What will happen to Island Nations and Coastal Cities? Does everyone understand what is at stake here?ĭr. For example, the loss of land-based ice in West Antarctica and Greenland is currently causing irreversible sea level rise.īecause land-based ice sheets can melt and collapse so much faster than they can be rebuilt from snow accumulation, this current land ice melt is irreversible on human timescales. In our warming world, polar regions are losing snow and ice. Now, she’s a doctor, professor, and highly cited researcher with a focus on polar regions. It’s not surprising that she loves all things cold. Growing up in upstate New York, she spent most of her days skiing, sledding, and loving snow. “I’m curious, scared, hopeful, frustrated, and inspired all at once.” As a climate scientist at the University of Colorado, understanding the physics of snow, clouds and ice is her job. Jennifer Kay (she/her/hers), global warming and ice loss brings up many headspaces. This series features leading climate scientists who are Breaking the Ice Ceiling.įor Dr. I want to see more women getting to the top. How we treat women sets the tone for how we treat the environment. Because when women lead, we see better climate policies. Going to Antarctica is an enormous privilege I want to give back by communicating the importance of climate science through these women’s research. These barriers are similar to those faced by women who want to get into ski mountaineering: implicit bias, lack of diversity of sizes in appropriate gear and equipment, and sometimes, outright harassment. Now, women are playing leading roles in Antarctic polar research, although there are still significant barriers, especially for women of color. As I was researching climate science in Antarctica, I was shocked to learn that women were banned from Antarctic climate research until the 60s in the US and the mid 80s in the U.K. In December 2021, my partner, Rob Lea, our friend, mountain guide, Jonathon Spitzer, and I will be in Antarctica climbing and skiing the highest peak, Mt. She feels particularly grateful for since women have only been allowed to do fieldwork with the British program since the 1980s! On this episode, Caroline and Alison discuss her background, experiences in the field and the parallels between gender bias in science and mountaineering. She is from the UK and is currently a research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder.Īlison has been on five field expeditions to Antarctica, three of which she led. Alison Banwell is a glacier scientist (aka ‘glaciologist’) who loves glaciers but hates the cold. Learn more and follow her work on her Twitter page:ĭr. Her research has implications for understanding the stability of the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet, which be critical for predicting how Antarctica will respond to a warming climate. On this episode, we discuss her work and Antarctic fieldwork, getting her Ph.D., gender and racial diversity among doctorates in earth, atmospheric and ocean sciences. Her work is focused on reconstruction the history of the Antarctic ice sheet through the Pleistocene (last 2.5 million years) and the Holocene (12,000-2.5 million years ago), studying how the outlet glacier systems in East Antarctica evolved. The natural archive that she relies on are sediment cores, which contain layers of mud that provide a snapshot of the environment in which the mud was deposited. A paleoceanographer is a scientist who uses natural archives to study how the marine environment changed through time. Michelle Guitard is a paleoceanographer interested in understanding the interactions between Antarctica’s ice shelves and ice sheets and the surrounding ocean.
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