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URL: http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/53655
Updated: 6 min 25 sec ago

Wed 19 Mar 14:00: Cell edges: from polarity to growth control Please contact the events team at Events@slcu.cam.ac.uk for the online Zoom link.

Tue, 25/02/2025 - 12:26
Cell edges: from polarity to growth control

Abstract not available

Please contact the events team at Events@slcu.cam.ac.uk for the online Zoom link.

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Wed 25 Mar 14:00: External Seminar Bénédicte Charrier TBC

Tue, 25/02/2025 - 12:26
External Seminar Bénédicte Charrier TBC

Abstract not available

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Wed 30 Apr 14:00: External Seminar - Monica Garcia Gomez TBC

Tue, 25/02/2025 - 11:40
External Seminar - Monica Garcia Gomez TBC

Abstract not available

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Wed 29 Oct 14:00: External Seminar Christian Fankhauser TBC

Tue, 25/02/2025 - 11:37
External Seminar Christian Fankhauser TBC

Abstract not available

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Wed 30 Apr 14:00: External Seminar - Monica Garcia Gomez TBC

Tue, 25/02/2025 - 10:29
External Seminar - Monica Garcia Gomez TBC

Abstract not available

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Wed 19 Mar 14:00: Cell edges: from polarity to growth control Please contact the events team at Events@slcu.cam.ac.uk for the online Zoom link.

Tue, 25/02/2025 - 10:29
Cell edges: from polarity to growth control

Abstract not available

Please contact the events team at Events@slcu.cam.ac.uk for the online Zoom link.

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Wed 12 Mar 14:00: Spatio-temporal Melt and Basal Channel Evolution on Pine Island Glacier Ice Shelf from CryoSat-2

Mon, 24/02/2025 - 09:59
Spatio-temporal Melt and Basal Channel Evolution on Pine Island Glacier Ice Shelf from CryoSat-2

Ice shelves buttress the grounded ice sheet, restraining its flow into the ocean. Mass loss from these ice shelves occurs primarily through ocean-induced basal melting, with the highest melt rates occurring in regions that host basal channels – elongated, kilometre-wide zones of relatively thin ice. While some models suggest that basal channels could mitigate overall ice shelf melt rates, channels have also been linked to basal and surface crevassing, leaving their cumulative impact on ice-shelf stability uncertain. Due to their relatively small spatial scale and the limitations of previous satellite datasets, our understanding of how channelised melting evolves over time remains limited. In this study, we present a novel approach that uses CryoSat-2 radar altimetry data to calculate ice shelf basal melt rates, demonstrated here as a case study over Pine Island Glacier (PIG) ice shelf. Our method generates monthly Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and melt maps with a 250 m spatial resolution. The data show that near the grounding line, basal melting preferentially melts a channel’s western flank 50% more than its eastern flank. Additionally, we find that the main channelised geometries on PIG are inherited upstream of the grounding line and play a role in forming ice shelf pinning points. These observations highlight the importance of channels under ice shelves, emphasising the need to investigate them further and consider their impacts on observations and models that do not resolve them.

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Thu 06 Mar 18:45: The History of Forests

Thu, 20/02/2025 - 15:43
The History of Forests

The first notable fact is that, apart from Ireland, Britain has the lowest woodland cover in relation to its size than any other country in Europe. That second is that, ignoring taxonomically complex genera such as Sorbus and Ulmus, there is a very limited number of native forest tress (and shrubs), with important genera only represented by one or two species.

We compare this with forest composition in other regions of northern and southern Europe and then with temperate areas of East Asia and North America.

The key to great differences in diversity and fascinating distribution patterns of individual tree genera, so revealed, lies in the geological, geographical and climatic history of the Northern Hemisphere.

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Wed 26 Feb 15:30: The Impacts of Freshwater Transport on the Weddell Gyre Carbon Budget

Fri, 14/02/2025 - 17:36
The Impacts of Freshwater Transport on the Weddell Gyre Carbon Budget

The Weddell Gyre mediates carbon exchange between the abyssal ocean and atmosphere, which is critical to global climate. This region also features large and highly variable freshwater fluxes due to seasonal sea ice, net precipitation, and glacial melt; however, the impact of these freshwater fluxes on the regional carbon cycle has not been fully explored. Using a novel budget analysis of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) mass in the Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate and revisiting hydrographic analysis from the ANDREX cruises, we highlight two freshwater-driven transports. Where freshwater with minimal DIC enters the ocean, it displaces DIC -rich seawater outwards, driving a lateral transport of 75±5 Tg DIC /year. Additionally, sea ice export requires a compensating import of seawater, which carries 48±11 Tg DIC /year into the gyre. Though often overlooked, these freshwater displacement effects are of leading order in the Weddell Gyre carbon budget in the state estimate and in regrouped box-inversion estimates. Implications for evaluating basin-scale carbon transports are considered. [Time permitting, I’ll also share some results on the role of heat addition in driving circulation change and warming patterns in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean.]

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Wed 26 Feb 15:30: Freshwater displacement effect on the Weddell Gyre carbon budget

Fri, 14/02/2025 - 11:13
Freshwater displacement effect on the Weddell Gyre carbon budget

The Weddell Gyre mediates carbon exchange between the abyssal ocean and atmosphere, which is critical to global climate. This region also features large and highly variable freshwater fluxes due to seasonal sea ice, net precipitation, and glacial melt; however, the impact of these freshwater fluxes on the regional carbon cycle has not been fully explored. Using a novel budget analysis of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) mass in the Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate and revisiting hydrographic analysis from the ANDREX cruises, we highlight two freshwater-driven transports. Where freshwater with minimal DIC enters the ocean, it displaces DIC -rich seawater outwards, driving a lateral transport of 75±5 Tg DIC /year. Additionally, sea ice export requires a compensating import of seawater, which carries 48±11 Tg DIC /year into the gyre. Though often overlooked, these freshwater displacement effects are of leading order in the Weddell Gyre carbon budget in the state estimate and in regrouped box-inversion estimates. Implications for evaluating basin-scale carbon transports are considered. [Time permitting, I’ll also share some results on the role of heat addition in driving circulation change and warming patterns in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean.]

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Wed 21 May 14:30: Title to be confirmed

Thu, 13/02/2025 - 11:50
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Abstract not available

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Wed 23 Apr 14:00: Title to be confirmed

Thu, 13/02/2025 - 11:48
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Abstract not available

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Wed 09 Apr 15:00: Title to be confirmed

Thu, 13/02/2025 - 11:48
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Wed 19 Mar 14:00: Tipping points of the Ross and Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelves: how worried should we be?

Thu, 13/02/2025 - 11:47
Tipping points of the Ross and Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelves: how worried should we be?

Ocean models consistently project that with sufficient climate change forcing, the Ross and Filchner-Ronne ice shelf cavities could abruptly transition from a cold state to a warm state. Crossing these tipping points would have profound consequences for basal melt rates, buttressing of ice streams, and ultimately sea level rise. Here we analyse over 14,000 years of “overshoot” simulations with the UK Earth System Model, which includes a fully coupled Antarctic Ice Sheet. As the climate warms, stabilises at different temperatures, and cools again, we simulate many examples of the cavities tipping and recovering. We find that global warming thresholds of around 3.5°C and 5°C tip the Ross and Filchner-Ronne respectively. We also find evidence of hysteresis: the climate must cool back down beyond the tipping thresholds in order for each cavity to return to its original cold state. Even if the oceanography recovers, the ice sheet does not: sea level contribution from each catchment takes centuries even to stabilise, and the ice does not begin to regrow on this timescale. Therefore, if the Ross or Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelves cross tipping points, the resulting sea level rise will be effectively irreversible.

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Wed 26 Mar 15:30: Title to be confirmed

Thu, 13/02/2025 - 11:46
Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

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Wed 12 Mar 14:00: Title to be confirmed

Thu, 13/02/2025 - 11:46
Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

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Wed 26 Feb 15:30: Title to be confirmed

Thu, 13/02/2025 - 11:43
Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

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Wed 12 Feb 13:00: Short-term, high-resolution sea ice forecasting with diffusion model ensembles

Mon, 10/02/2025 - 15:27
Short-term, high-resolution sea ice forecasting with diffusion model ensembles

Sea ice plays a key role in Earth’s climate system and exhibits significant seasonal variability as it advances and retreats across the Arctic and Antarctic every year. The production of sea ice forecasts provides great scientific and practical value to stakeholders across the polar regions, informing shipping, conservation, logistics, and the daily lives of inhabitants of local communities. Machine learning offers a promising means by which to develop such forecasts, capturing the nonlinear dynamics and subtle spatiotemporal patterns at play as effectively—if not more effectively—than conventional physics-based models. In particular, the ability of deep generative models to produce probabilistic forecasts which acknowledge the inherent stochasticity of sea ice processes and represent uncertainty by design make them a sensible choice for the task of sea ice forecasting. Diffusion models, a class of deep generative models, present a strong option given their state-of-the-art performance on computer vision tasks and their strong track record when adapted to spatiotemporal modelling tasks in weather and climate domains. In this talk, I will present preliminary results from a IceNet-like [1] diffusion model trained to autoregressively forecast daily, 6.25 km resolution sea ice concentration in the Bellingshausen Sea along the Antarctic Peninsula. I will also touch on the downstream applications for these forecasts, from conservation to marine route planning, which are under development at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). I welcome ideas and suggestions for improvement and look forward to discussing opportunities for collaboration within and beyond BAS .

[1] Andersson, Tom R., et al. “Seasonal Arctic sea ice forecasting with probabilistic deep learning.” Nature communications 12.1 (2021): 5124. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25257-4

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Fri 21 Feb 17:30: Eve's Byte of the Apple

Sun, 09/02/2025 - 12:42
Eve's Byte of the Apple

Abstract:

In “Eve’s Byte of the Apple”, Sandi Toksvig will be taking an alternative look at the evolution of information, at how the knowledge of women and about women is encoded, and what comes from those codes. Since 2023 Sandi has been a Bye-Fellow at Christ’s College, Cambridge working on The Mappa Mundi Project, creating a global interactive digital platform telling women’s stories worldwide. In this lecture, she considers how the evolution of information technology has been historically biased against women, continuing that bias to the present day. Most importantly, she asks what might be done about it.

Biography:

Sandi Toksvig was born in Copenhagen, Denmark but grew up travelling the world. After graduating with a first-class degree from Cambridge, Sandi began a career on stage, television and radio. As a political and women’s rights activist, she was co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party in 2015. Sandi has written stage plays, journalism and over 25 books including fact and fiction for both children and adults. Her latest novel Friends of Dorothy was published in 2024.

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Wed 12 Feb 14:00: Short-term, high-resolution sea ice forecasting with diffusion model ensembles

Wed, 05/02/2025 - 11:44
Short-term, high-resolution sea ice forecasting with diffusion model ensembles

Sea ice plays a key role in Earth’s climate system and exhibits significant seasonal variability as it advances and retreats across the Arctic and Antarctic every year. The production of sea ice forecasts provides great scientific and practical value to stakeholders across the polar regions, informing shipping, conservation, logistics, and the daily lives of inhabitants of local communities. Machine learning offers a promising means by which to develop such forecasts, capturing the nonlinear dynamics and subtle spatiotemporal patterns at play as effectively—if not more effectively—than conventional physics-based models. In particular, the ability of deep generative models to produce probabilistic forecasts which acknowledge the inherent stochasticity of sea ice processes and represent uncertainty by design make them a sensible choice for the task of sea ice forecasting. Diffusion models, a class of deep generative models, present a strong option given their state-of-the-art performance on computer vision tasks and their strong track record when adapted to spatiotemporal modelling tasks in weather and climate domains. In this talk, I will present preliminary results from a IceNet-like [1] diffusion model trained to autoregressively forecast daily, 6.25 km resolution sea ice concentration in the Bellingshausen Sea along the Antarctic Peninsula. I will also touch on the downstream applications for these forecasts, from conservation to marine route planning, which are under development at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). I welcome ideas and suggestions for improvement and look forward to discussing opportunities for collaboration within and beyond BAS .

[1] Andersson, Tom R., et al. “Seasonal Arctic sea ice forecasting with probabilistic deep learning.” Nature communications 12.1 (2021): 5124. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25257-4

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