Feb 6, 02023: Antarctic Ice: Report to the Future
A Long Now Boston Conversation exploring the timeless mystery of Antarctic ice, and its possible demise, with literary scholar and science writer Dr. Marissa Grunes, currently living at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and special guest Dr. Catherine Walker (WHOI).
See Event Summary Here.
Date: Monday, Feb 6, 02023, 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Zoom
Free tickets are available on Eventbrite
The frozen continent – Antarctica – has inspired human imagination for centuries. Its ice seems timeless, an object of awe and foreboding mystery, as well as a source of inspiration and challenge. Dr. Marissa Grunes has long been drawn to Antarctica by its deep natural history and austerity. This year she is working at McMurdo Station in support of the National Science Foundation’s work on the continent. Her recent writing includes articles in the Boston Review, Nautilus, and most recently in Hakai Magazine.
Marissa will call in by video to lead us in a conversation touching on the imagery and art of Antarctic ice, the history of its many explorations, and the reality of life on its surface.
Marissa will be joined by Dr. Catherine Walker, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, for a discussion of the long-term future of planetary ice, and what its potential loss would mean to humanity and to our planet.
Among the questions the presenters will address:
- Why have so many people been drawn to the extreme and hostile continent of Antarctica, and how has our conception of the frozen continent changed in the past two centuries?
- What inspires you in your quest to explore, experience and explain Antarctica’s history and future?
- What have we learned about the role of planetary ice in terrestrial bio-geo-atmospheric dynamics?
- How fast is the ice melting and how long will it last based on current climate projections?
- What will the Earth be like without its ice?
- How can we save Antarctic ice?
Join the conversation and be part of the solution.
The conversation will be held virtually using the Zoom platform. Login information and password will be provided to registrants prior to the event.
All tickets are free for this event! Please register at Eventbrite.
Login begins at 7:15 p.m.; the conversation begins at 7:30 p.m.
Audience participation is encouraged.
About the Speakers:
Dr. Marissa Grunes is a literary scholar and science writer currently living at McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica. She earned a PhD in English Literature from Harvard University in 2019 and has held postdoctoral fellowships from several institutions, most recently the Center for Public Humanities at Arizona State University. Her recent writing includes articles in The Boston Review and Nautilus and and most recently in Hakai Magazine.
Dr. Catherine Walker is a Glaciologist and Planetary Scientist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution working on polar, ocean and planetary exploration. Catherine saw Apollo 13 when she was 10 years old and decided to be an astronaut, a goal which she has not yet given up. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Astronomy (and a minor in Earth Sciences) from Mount Holyoke College, and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences from the University of Michigan. As a postdoctoral scholar at Georgia Tech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, Catherine studied ice-ocean interactions on Earth and across the many Ocean Worlds of the solar system. At WHOI, she continues her work to understand these extreme environments using satellites and work in the field, most recently diving to the seafloor in the Human-Occupied Vehicle (HOV) Alvin in 2022.
We’re proud and excited to welcome Marissa and Catherine to the Long Now Boston community.
Thanks to our generous event sponsor, this event is Free.
Register at: https://endless-ice.eventbrite.com
Sponsors:
Long Now Boston thanks bPrescient for its key support as a Corporate Sponsor of Long Now Boston. bPrescient is a creative force solving serious medical challenges through the application of advanced analytics and machine learning. Leveraging a unique and highly effective business model, bPrescient has become a leading resource for life science firms trying to bring method, order and insights to the growing flood of research and clinical data.
We also thank our anonymous event sponsor for making it possible to offer this evening’s event for free. The sponsor acknowledges the importance of complexity science in working towards a more comprehensive understanding of the amazing world we live in, and recommends the audio/video series “Making Sense of Complexity”, featuring interviews with complexity science researchers and philosophers.
For information about event or corporate sponsorships, please contact info@longnowboston.org.