Science Café | Polar Science: Sea ice research and climate change

This free public event features sea ice geophysicist and Ingenuity Scholar Dr. Christian Haas and expert in Northern environmental change Dr. Duane Froese.

This is the fourth in a series of science cafés delivered in partnership with the TELUS World of Science – Edmonton.

Join us.

Tuesday, December 2 | 6:30 p.m.
Good Earth Café, Campus Tower, 8623 – 112 Street, Edmonton

This event is free and open to the public.

This café focuses on research into sea ice thickness and melting glaciers and what each can tell us about climate change. Alberta Ingenuity funded researchers Dr. Christian Haas and Dr. Duane Froese, leaders in climate change and polar research, will lead the discussion and explain why these areas of research are becoming increasingly important in understanding the impact of human activities have on the Earth and what could be altered to offset these changes. 

Dr. Christian Haas

Haas is a sea ice geophysicist who is exploring the retreat of sea and its effects on the biosphere. To better understand these changes, Haas and his team are using in-situ measurements and airborne and satellite remote sensing and modeling. Haas and his research group are one of only two groups in the world capable of capturing these measurements. As an Ingenuity Scholar he will undertake biennial thickness surveys over the Arctic Ocean between Ellesmere Island and the North Pole. These forays will allow the group to observe the ice through its annual of phases of thinning throughout the summer and thickening throughout the winter as well as changes occurring in between.

Dr. Duane Froese

Froese is a field-based scientist with research interests in northern environmental change in the Yukon and Alaska and 2006 Alberta Ingenuity New Faculty awardee. The largely unglaciated region he studies offers Froese and his team the opportunity to determine the impact of past warmer climate conditions on the land. His research team is closely integrated with the isolated First Nations community of Old Crow who have seen the effects of climate change. Using scientific data, as well as historical observation from the Old Crow community, Froese and his team hope to create models which better predict a warmer Arctic. This will enable companies building oil pipelines to ensure pipeline stability. Ultimately though, the research will be beneficial to the environment. Froese was awarded an Award in 2006.