A scientist who specializes in “climate fingerprint” studies — seeking to understand the nature and causes of climate change — will give two free talks Oct. 27 and 28 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Benjamin D. Santer, a climate scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, comes to campus for the 6th Annual Carolina Climate Change Seminar.
His public talk, “The scientific evidence for a ‘discernible human influence’ on global climate,” will be held Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the FedEx Global Education Center’s Nelson Mandela Auditorium. A reception will follow.
He will present a technical talk, “Separating signal and noise in atmospheric temperature changes: The importance of timescale,” Oct. 28 at 1 p.m. in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Auditorium of the UNC School of Social Work.
Santer is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship for his “climate fingerprint” research and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was the convening lead author of a key chapter in the 1995 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which revealed that “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.” He has devoted much of his career to communicating climate science to the public and policymakers.
The talks are hosted by the department of geological sciences and supported by the UNC Provost’s Office, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Institute for the Environment and the department of marine sciences.
