PUBLIC LECTURE: Water and Climate Change: Global Ocean/Atmosphere Connections

Abstract: The movement of fresh-water through atmosphere and ocean is a part of the machinery of global climate. With impending warming over much of the Earth, the atmosphere is expected to be loaded with extra water, yet as predicted for Australia, changes in circulation patterns can reverse this trend locally. As a physicist studying climate dynamics, I explore some of the far corners of the climate system, from the Arctic to the Southern Ocean, in search of keys to its behaviour. New technologies, including satellite sensors, robotic undersea vehicles and subtle trace chemical indicators, are giving us, for the first time, comprehensive views of the great and small parts of climate. These observations, along with simple scientific theory, are needed because the computer models on which we base our future are unable to capture fully the complexity of climate change.

Biographical note: Dr. Rhines received his Ph.D. in oceanography at Trinity College, Cambridge University, in 1967. Dr. Rhines currently serves as a professor of oceanography and atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington. His research interests include the ocean/atmosphere general circulation, climate change, and the motion of trace chemicals. He has a field program in the Labrador Sea, as well as maintaining a grophysical fluid dynamics laboratory and computer modeling. Dr. Rhines is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. Former Guggenheim Fellow, Cambridge University.He is currently the recipient of Gledden Visiting Senior Fellowship at The University of Western Australia.

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