Media Invited to Webcast Q&A with Ice Experts on West Antarctic Contribution to Sea-Level Rise

Event: Live webcast of public panel on efforts to seek greater scientific consensus regarding contributions of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to future sea-level rise.

When: 3-5 p.m., Wednesday, March 28.

Webcast URL: http://www.esi.utexas.edu/walse/

Location: Welch Hall, The University of Texas at Austin campus. Map and directions.

Background: More than 20 of the world’s leading polar ice experts meet at The University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences March 26-28 to seek greater scientific consensus on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet’s potential to contribute to future sea-level rise. The Antarctic ice sheet, the largest body of fresh water on Earth, contains the potential to raise global sea level by several meters and increase the risk of flooding for tens to hundreds of millions of people living in the world’s coastal regions. The scientific community remains unable to reach consensus, however, on issues that would allow projection of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet’s contribution to future sea-level rise. The subject was omitted from the recent assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change because of scientific uncertainty.

The scientists will issue a statement on their efforts to forge consensus at 1:30 p.m., March 28 followed by the panel and live webcast from 3-5 p.m. Anton Caputo, science writer for the San Antonio Express-News, will moderate the panel. Caputo will take questions online and from the audience.

The panel is part of the West Antarctic Links to Sea-Level Estimation international workshop, an International Polar Year event with financial support from the British Consulate-General in Houston, the United Kingdom's Department for Environment, Food, and Environmental Affairs, and the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin.

For more information about the WALSE conference, including a complete agenda and list of participants, visit http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/walse/.

For more information about the Jackson School, contact J.B. Bird at jbird@jsg.utexas.edu, 512-232-9623.