Knowing the Earth’s past climate is key to understanding the future but our records of the past are sketchy.  Paleoclimatologists turn to fossils for help.  In cold and temperate areas they analyze ice cores and ancient tree rings.  In the tropics corals tell the climate’s tale.

Obtaining a record of the warm oceans’ history is important because so much of Earth’s weather is controlled by conditions in the Tropics.  Think El Niño and La Niña, for starters.

In the tropical Pacific Dr. Kim Cobb examines live and fossil corals to assemble a climate record that now spans 7,000+ years.  Thanks to the University Honors College she’s coming to Pittsburgh on April 16.  Through video and photos, she’ll take the audience to her field sites to hear the corals tell their climate story.

Dr. Kim Cobb
Corals as Climate Communicators
April 16, 2015, 4:00 PM
Charity Randall Theatre (in the Stephen Foster Memorial Building)
4301 Forbes Ave

Here’s a quick video of Kim Cobb discussing climatology.  She describes herself on  Twitter as “40% Climate Scientist, 40% Mom and 20% Indian Jones.”  Her lecture on corals will not be a dry subject!

This lecture is free and open to the public but space is limited. Click here to read more about this University of Pittsburgh Honors College event and reserve your seat.

(photo of coral reef at Palmyra Atoll (a location where Kim Cobb works on corals) by Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Wikimedia Commons. Video of Dr. Kim Cobb via PopTech.org)