KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Prof. Martin Siegert
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Cornwall) of the University of Exeter
Biography
Glaciologist Professor Martin Siegert FRSE has been Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Cornwall) of the University of Exeter since November 2022. Prior to this, he was Co-Director of the prestigious Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, where is now Visiting Professor. He has also been Head of the School of GeoSciences at Edinburgh University, where he now holds an Honorary Professorship. He has undertaken three Antarctic field seasons, using geophysics to measure the subglacial landscape and understand what it tells us about past changes in Antarctica and elsewhere. In 2013 he was awarded the Martha T Muse Prize for excellence in Antarctic science and policy, and in 2007 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Abstract
Antarctic Extreme Events and Implications for Planetary and Human Health
Martin J. Siegert
Tremough House, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom
There is increasing evidence that fossil-fuel burning, and consequential global heating of 1.1°C to date, has led to the increased occurrence and severity of extreme environmental events. It is well documented how such events have impacted society outside Antarctica through enhanced levels of rainfall and flooding, heatwaves and wildfires, drought and water/food shortages and episodes of intense cooling. I will briefly examine evidence for extreme events in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean across a variety of environments and timescales. I will show how vulnerable natural Antarctic systems are to extreme events and highlight how governance and environmental protection of the continent must take them into account. Given future additional heating of at least 0.4°C is now unavoidable (to contain heating to the “Paris Agreement 1.5°C” scenario), and may indeed be higher unless drastic action is successfully taken on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by mid-Century, it is virtually certain that future Antarctic extreme events will be more pronounced than those observed to date. The consequences of further Antarctic extreme events will be global, and will lead to accelerated planetary heating and reduced habitability.