October 26, 2009 Scientist Thorsten Markus to Discuss "On Thin Ice: The Changing Ice Cover on Polar Oceans," Nov. 17

NASA scientist Thorsten Markus has closely observed the changes in the polar sea-ice cover, sometimes doing field work directly on the ice or from a NASA airplane and other times via satellite remote sensing. He will be sharing his expertise on polar ice in a lecture at the Library of Congress on Nov. 17.

Markus, head of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, will present “On Thin Ice: Changing Ice Cover on Polar Oceans” at the Library of Congress at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, in the Mary Pickford Theater on the third floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.

The illustrated lecture, the sixth in a series of programs in 2009, is presented through a partnership between the Library’s Science, Technology and Business Division and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The lecture is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed.

In his lecture, Markus will summarize recent observations and findings—together with pictures from Arctic and Antarctic research campaigns—and will put those results into the bigger climate-system picture. The focus will be on recent changes in the Arctic and in Antarctica. Markus will explain why the two hemispheres react differently to climate change, and will conclude his lecture by discussing current and future efforts to address the uncertainties and contradictions of the ice conditions.

During November 2009, Markus will be the principal sea-ice investigator on NASA’s DC-8 plane that will fly over Antarctica as part of Operation IceBridge. For more information, visit http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/icebridge External. Markus also is the project scientist for NASA’s upcoming ICESat-2 Mission, scheduled to be launched in 2015. Markus joined NASA after receiving his doctorate in physics from the University of Bremen, Germany, in 1995.

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