Inaugural Lecture: Prof Robert Bingham

The School of GeoSciences is pleased to announce the Inaugural Lecture of Professor Robert Bingham, Personal Chair in Glaciology and Geophysics.

The lecture will be held at 6:00 pm on Thursday, 12th December 2024 in the Conference Room of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI).

All are welcome to attend.

How rapidly is Antarctica’s ice loss going to raise global sea level?

Antarctica, although by far the world’s remote continent, is experiencing huge – and potentially unprecedented – changes that are on a path to affecting huge numbers of the Earth’s population. Space and Satellites research for the last five decades has opened humans’ eyes to dramatic levels of ice loss around some parts of Antarctica over the last 30-50 years which, if they continue, will reach the rest of the world in the form of rising global sea-levels and changes to marine food distributions and security. This is happening now – but for how long will it continue, and at what rate(s)? In this lecture I will explore how evidence that is stored within the structure of the ice itself, and is moulded into the shape of the bed over which the ice flows, contributes to answering these questions.

Robert Bingham was awarded a B.Sc. in Geography and an M.Res. specialising in ice-sheet modelling from the University of Edinburgh in 1998 and 1999 respectively. His Ph.D. at the University of Glasgow focussed on the hydrology and dynamics of Arctic glaciers and ice caps, and marked the beginning of a career that has seen him conduct field research for many months at a time in some of the Earth’s most remote locations. From 2005 onwards, his principal research focus has been on the Antarctic Ice Sheet, motivated by the need to understand how changes taking place across this most remote of ice sheets will fundamentally affect global sea levels across the Earth. This has taken in spells at the University of Bristol, the British Antarctic Survey, and the University of Aberdeen, before returning “home” to the University of Edinburgh in 2013.

• 6.00-6:10pm Welcome
• 6.10-7.00pm Lecture and Q&A session
• 7.00-8.00pm Reception

Host or Publisher School of GeoSciences