NU Ideas | Season 4 Talk 3 | Permafrost & Zero Emission

Monday 22nd January | 6pm

NU Ideas | Season 4 Talk 3

A series of talks in partnership with Northumbria University

Permafrost – not so permanent: release of millennial old carbon from Arctic soils

A talk by Dr Kirsi Keskitalo, Postdoctoral Researcher

Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences

Rapid warming of the Arctic is leading to radical changes in the vulnerable Arctic environments. One of these changes is destabilisation of permafrost (frozen ground) that covers 25 % of the Northern Hemisphere. Permafrost soils store large amount of organic matter, one of the largest terrestrial reservoirs, and thus far, permafrost has preserved this vast organic matter pool for millennia acting like a giant freezer. The rise in air temperatures in the Arctic has led to thaw of permafrost and release of ancient organic matter into the contemporary carbon cycle. Degradation of old organic matter can lead to release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that further enhance climate warming. In this presentation, I will discuss (from a geochemical perspective) the significance of permafrost in the contemporary carbon cycle, its relation to climate and how permafrost degradation can lead to millennial old carbon transforming into greenhouse gases.

Zero emission living at the end of the Earth

A talk by Kate Winter Dr Kate Winter, Associate Professor of Glaciologist

Department: School of Geography and Applied Science

"If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere” – these are the words of expedition leader Alain Hubert, who built Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, the first, and only, zero-emission research station in Antarctica. With wind speeds in excess of 100 km/hr and air temperatures regularly below -20°C, continental Antarctica isn’t the first place you’d choose to put down foundations for an innovative, space-ship inspired, technologically driven research station, but these bolt-holes are essential to support a multitude of globally important science, largely centred around climate change research. By turning apparent constraints into innovative opportunities, Alain Hubert and the International Polar Foundation have provided scientists from across the world with a cosy, passive-house standard research station, where renewable energy is harnessed from snow-resistant solar panels and frost-proof wind turbines. In this talk, Dr Kate Winter, a glaciologist at Northumbria University who has spent two field seasons at the International Polar Foundation’s Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Research Station will show you what it’s like to live and work in Antarctica, and explain how zero-emission living in Antarctica can inspire everyone.

A LIVE Lit & Phil Event | FREE

(If you would prefer to book directly over the phone, please call the Library Desk team on 0191 232 0192 and they will be happy to help)

Image source UnSplash | copyright free

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