On the occasion of the UN Decade of Ocean Science (#SDG14), which aims to create a common framework to ensure that marine sciences fully support actions to manage the world’s oceans and seas sustainably and achieve the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals, the CSIC marine centres IMEDEA, CEAB, ICM, ICMAN and IIM have organised a joint lecture series entitled “Seamposium: Dealing with new frontiers of marine research”, creating a discussion forum around a monthly seminar given by a recognised expert in different marine topics.

The Oceans in a Changing Climate

The Earth is undergoing a rapid major warming, unprecedented in its speed for millions of years. How is this affecting the physics of the oceans, and therefore us? The lecture will cover ocean warming and its consequences: Arctic summer sea ice has shrunk by half in extent and thickness; thermal expansion and land-ice loss are causing global sea level to rise and accelerate; tropical cyclones are becoming more violent as they draw energy from the heat stored in the upper ocean; and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has weakened since the mid-twentieth century and is now weaker than at any time in the last 1,000 years.

SPEAKER:  Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf. Potsdam University, Germany.

Stefan Rahmstorf is a German oceanographer and climatologist. Since 2000, he has been Professor of Physics of the Oceans at Potsdam University. He studied physical oceanography at Bangor University and received his PhD in oceanography from Victoria University of Wellington (1990). His work focuses on the role of ocean currents in climate change. He was one of the lead authors of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and is co-founder of the Real Climate blog. He has written extensively on climate change for the general public and has been recognised as one of Germany’s most-cited climate scientists.