BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Impacts of a Disappearing Arctic Sea Cover - Professor Peter Wadha
 ms\, Professor of Ocean Physics and Head of the Polar Oceans Physics Group
 \,Dept. Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics
DTSTART:20121015T180000Z
DTEND:20121015T200000Z
UID:TALK40160@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Nigel Bennee
DESCRIPTION:Professor Wadhams will explain how the sea ice cover of the Ar
 ctic Ocean has been undergoing significant changes in recent years\, culmi
 nating in the virtual collapse during this past summer when its area shran
 k to the lowest level ever recorded. This thinning of the ice layers in th
 e Arctic\, which began in 1950\, has been monitored by various techniques\
 , including satellites and upward-looking sonar from submarines and unmann
 ed vehicles in the area. The volume of this polar ice cover is now less th
 an 30 per cent of its size since the 1980s. The reduction of the summer se
 a ice cover will have some advantages\, such as polar navigation and oil e
 xploration. However\, its overwhelming impact is to accelerate global warm
 ing\, perhaps by a large factor. This occurs because of the albedo feedbac
 k effect by which bright\, reflective surface is replaced by a dark absorp
 tive one. This in turn could lead to a potentially more disastrous effect 
 whereby methane\, a powerful greenhouse gas\, would be realised in signifi
 cant amounts from the seabed as offshore permafrost melts due to the warme
 r sea temperatures which are now made possible by the reduction of the sea
  ice cover. 
LOCATION:Wolfson Lecture Theatre\, Churchill College\, Storey's Way\, Camb
 ridge
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR