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Not a bathtub: An introduction to sea-level change

Melting of ice sheets adds water into the ocean basins. The corresponding rise in sea level is, however, by no means spatially uniform. The combined effect of changes in gravity field, viscoelastic response of the solid Earth, and feedbacks on Earth rotation result in a highly heterogenous change in local sea level. This behaviour has profound implications for both our reconstructions of past paleoclimate and our forecasts of future sea-level change. In this talk, I will give an overview of this critical problem, including how observations by ancient Egyptians continue to inform our state-of-the-art sea-level models today!

About the speaker

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Dr. Mark Hoggard is an Earth scientist with broad interests in geology, geophysics and geodynamics. He grew up in the beautiful hills of the English Lake District and have been fortunate to study at Cambridge University in the UK, Harvard and Columbia Universities in the US, and the Australian National University. Dr. Mark Hoggard  works on geoscience problems that are important to society, including the response of sea level to melting ice caps and how we are going to locate sufficient metal deposits to support the transition to a low-carbon economy. He love rock climbing in the mountains and am passionate about sharing knowledge of this fascinating planet.