Climate Change Past, Present, and Future:
The Science You Need To Know
Open Lecture – Tuesday March 26th, 5-6 pm, Perry Presentation Room
Dr. Stephen Robinson – Director and Associate Professor – Champlain College Dublin Campus
Dr. Stephen Robinson has been Director and Associate Professor at Champlain’s Dublin Campus since 2008. Prior to joining Champlain in Dublin, he held the Chapin Chair in Geology at St. Lawrence University, and was also a Research Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada. His past academic and research background focused on the links between carbon cycling and storage and climate in permafrost-affected landscapes of the Canadian North.
Climate is naturally variable. The past million years has seen a series of extended cold periods of widespread continental glaciation separated by shorter interglacials characterized by the poleward retreat of snow and ice. Global average temperatures are approximately 5 degrees C warmer,and sea levels are over 100 m higher, during interglacials compared to glacial periods. Our current interglacial period, called the Holocene Epoch, shows a fairly stable climate but with some notable small-scale fluctuations. Human caused climate change dominates the past few decades, and is projected to result in significant warming and other climatic influences into the future. This talk will serve as a primer explaining the changes in climate over the past million years, trends at present, and projected changes for the near future.
