Ramanujan Auditorium

Ice on Earth

R Shankar

IMSc

The ice on earth, the cryosphere, is inextricably tied up with the climate of the earth. It affects and is affected by life on earth.

This talk is an attempt to argue why this is so ? How does the climate affect the ice and why does the ice affect the climate ? What caused the ice ages ? How did they affect the sea level ? Why is this interplay of great concern today ? What is the evidence that the climate is changing at an "unnaturally" fast rate today ?

Closer home, what is the role of the ice in the Himalaya in the water cycle ? How will the current rapid rate of climate change affect the flow of the rivers of North India ? How will it affect the sea level ? What will be the effect of the sea level rise on coastal regions like Chennai ?

(This talk is co-organized with Tamil Nadu Science Forum as a part of its Popular Science Lecture series: this is PSL-17.)