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SUMMARY:Antarctica:Isolated Continent - Professor Dame Jane Francis\, Brit
 ish Antarctic Survey
DTSTART:20230210T173000Z
DTEND:20230210T183000Z
UID:TALK172145@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Janet Gibson
DESCRIPTION:Continents as we know them today emerged as a consequence of t
 he mechanism of plate tectonics\, which led to the fragmentation of a supe
 r-continent.  One such fragment\, the Antarctica\, now is in the ocean at 
 the South Pole\, covered in thick ice-sheets that contrast with its long-p
 ast history where it was adorned by forests and inhabited by animals inclu
 ding dinosaurs. It was the natural processes that buried carbon dioxide th
 at led to the glaciation of Antarctica. The burning of fossil fuels is now
  having an opposite effect\, causing the depletion of the ice at a remarka
 ble rate. For humans\, Antarctica can be thought of as an isolated contine
 nt because no one actually makes a home there. But the continent is not en
 tirely isolated -- there is life\, including a few thousand scientists and
  their support staff. And the oceans around are teeming with life with a f
 ew species of birds breeding on the continent.\n\nJane Francis is a geolog
 ist by training\, with research interests in understanding past climate ch
 ange. She has undertaken research projects at the universities of Southamp
 ton\, London\, Leeds and Adelaide\, using fossil plants to determine the c
 hange from greenhouse to icehouse climates in the polar regions over the p
 ast 100 million years. She has undertaken over 15 scientific expeditions t
 o the Arctic and Antarctica in search of fossil forests.\n\nJane is Direct
 or of the British Antarctic Survey\, a research centre of the Natural Envi
 ronment Research Council (UKRI-NERC). She is involved with international p
 olar organisations\, such as the Antarctic Treaty and European Polar Board
 \, and on several advisory boards of national polar programmes.\n\nJane wa
 s appointed Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (DCMG)
  in recognition of services to UK polar science and diplomacy. She was als
 o awarded the Polar Medal by H.M The Queen\, and in 2018 became Chancellor
  of the University of Leeds.\n
LOCATION:Lady Mitchell Hall\, Sidgwick Avenue
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