Messages from the Past: The Warm Earth We Know

13 May 2008

Emeritus Professor Ted Moore

As a pioneer in paleoceanography who has contributed to three generations of scientific ocean drilling programs, Ted Moore questions whether lessons learned from Earth's past will help us better appreciate the extensive changes that could be brought on by higher global temperatures, rising sea level, and more intense storms predicted for the future. He draws upon the 50-million-year-old climate records of the Eocene to offer insights into the impacts of increased global greenhouse gases and the expectations for Earth's future climate.

Professor Moore's lecture is part of the inaugural DRILLS lecture series - a new scientific lecture series that features prominent, internationally known scientists describing scientific ocean drilling from first-hand experience.

Broad Topics: Physical Science

Sub-topics: Earth & Marine Sciences, Environment

Areas: University

During a long career Ted has maintained a focus on the history of the oceans. He was one of the CLIMAP scientists who first reconstructed the ice age world and, while at the University of Michigan, worked on the last deglaciation and modeling the flow of glacial melt waters through the Great Lakes. More recently his research has taken him back to the extremely warm oceans of the Eocene. He has also pursued other projects - such as radiolarian stratigraphy, and sea level fluctuations through the Cenozoic and Mesozoic. Ted spent eight years at Exxon Production Research Corporation learning from their famous sea level gurus and seismic stratigraphers, and nine years as Director of the Center for Great Lakes and Aquatic Sciences at the University of Michigan.

Part of the 2008 Toyota-ANU Public Lecture Series