Directory

Start date:
22/10/16
End date:
23/11/16
Locations:
Friis Hills
Principle Investigator:
Richard Levy
Organisation:
Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences
New Zealand’s Past Antarctic Climate – Future Implications research programme is a collaboration between GNS Science, Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Otago, NIWA, and the University of Canterbury that aims to examine the effect of climate warming on Antarctica’s ice sheets. We will achieve our goal by studying modern processes at the ice sheet margin and pre-historic/geological data that record ice sheet response to past periods of climate similar to those projected for our future. These new observations will be used to develop and test numerical climate and ice sheet models, which will then be used to simulate Antarctic ice sheet response to a range of future climate scenarios. These outcomes will improve our capacity to project future global sea level rise by reducing uncertainties around the magnitude and rate of Antarctic ice sheet contribution to the end of the 21st century and beyond. This new information will help guide research into the impact of sea level rise on New Zealand.