23 March 18:00-19:30 CET

How glacial retreat reshapes landscapes, livelihoods, and ways of life

Glaciers in the US state of Alaska are changing faster than at any point in human history. From accelerating ice loss to cascading impacts on ecosystems, hazards, and Indigenous ways of life, glacier retreat in Alaska is pushing the region toward critical tipping points.

In this webinar, researchers and community-engaged scholars explore what rapid glacier loss means for Alaska today and tomorrow. Drawing on satellite observations, field research, Western science, and Tlingit oral traditions, the talks will examine both the physical processes driving glacier change and the profound cultural, ecological, and social consequences that follow.

Join AIMES, the Earth Commission, Future Earth, and the WCRP’s Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity for this discussion on glacial tipping points and on how science can guide urgent action toward a safe and sustainable future.

Agenda

  • Bethan Davis (Newcastle University): Accelerating Loss of Alaskan Glaciers
  • Judith Daxootsu Ramos (University of Alaska Southeast) and Annika Ord (Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center): Community and Cultural Impacts of Glacier Loss in Southeast and Coastal Alaska
  • Followed by a moderated discussion with Donovan Dennis (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)

Back to series overview.

A recorded version of the webinar will be available afterwards. 

Speakers

Bethan Davies
Newcastle University

Professor Bethan Davies is a glaciologist whose research focuses on how glaciers respond to climate change across timescales, using field observations, remote sensing, and modelling. Her work spans Antarctica, Alaska, Patagonia, and Europe, with a particular focus on glacier dynamics, hydrology, and implications for sea-level rise and water resources. Alongside her research, she serves in several senior advisory and editorial roles within the polar science community and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Geological Society of London, and the Higher Education Academy.

Read more

Judith Daxootsu Ramos
University of Alaska Southeast

Judith Daxootsu Ramos is Assistant Professor in Northwest Coast Arts at the University of Alaska Southeast. She is a Tlingit from Yakutat, Alaska. She is on the Southeast Alaska Conservation Board of Directors and the Eyak Preservation Council. She was a co-curator for the Northwest Coast Hall at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and curator for the Princeton Art Museum Tlingit Gallery. Her publications include "Tlingit Hunting along the Edge: Ice Floe Harbor Seal Hunting in Yakutat Bay", Alaska (2020), "Arctic Crashes: People and Animals in the Changing North", Smithsonian Press 2020.

Read more

Annika Ord
Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center

As the Climate Adaptation Catalyst with the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center and the Sustainable Southeast Partnership, Annika works to support climate adaptation and resilience initiatives that are rooted in communities and supported by science. She grew up in a commercial fishing family based in Juneau, Alaska, spending summers living and fishing out of a remote homestead on the southern tip of the Chilkat Peninsula. She is a guest on Lingít Aaní and honored to learn from the lands, animals, and people who live here.

For over a decade, she has worked in remote field sites and alongside Southeast Alaskan communities to monitor, respond to, and share stories of climate change. Her approach is informed by my experience in fisheries, climate education, glacier research, and wildlife biology. 

Read more

Donovan Dennis
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (Moderator)

Donovan Dennis is a glaciologist and project coordinator for the Tipping Points Modelling Intercomparison Project (TIPMIP) based at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Max Planck Institute of Geoarchaeology. His research focuses on systems in transition, from mountain permafrost to polar ice sheets, with particular attention to glacier and ice-sheet tipping risks under global change. Alongside his research, he is deeply engaged in public outreach, has held leadership roles in polar research organizations and journals, and is a founding core team leader of “Out on the ’Berg,” an LGBTQ+ network for research institutes in Potsdam.

Read more

All you need to know

This event is part of a series of online discussions aims to advance the knowledge about tipping elements, irreversibility, and abrupt changes in the Earth system. It supports efforts to increase consistency in treatment of tipping elements in the scientific community, develop a research agenda, and design joint experiments and ideas for a Tipping Element Model Intercomparison Project (TipMip).

This discussion series is a joint activity of the Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES) global research project of Future Earth, the Earth Commission Working Group 1 Earth and Human Systems Intercomparison Modelling Project (EHSMIP) under the Global Commons Alliance and the Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity of World Climate Research Program (WCRP).

Organized by

Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES)

The Analysis, Integration, and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES) project is an international network of Earth system scientists and scholars that seek to develop innovative, interdisciplinary ways to understand the complexity of the natural world and its interactions with human activities. AIMES is a global research project of Future Earth.

Future Earth

Future Earth is a global network of scientists, researchers, and innovators collaborating for a more sustainable planet. Future Earth initiates and supports international collaboration between researchers and stakeholders to identify and generate the integrated knowledge needed for successful transformations towards societies that provide good and fair lives for all within a stable and resilient Earth system. Future Earth is the host of the Earth Commission.

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)is an international research institute that advances systems analysis and applies its research methods to identify policy solutions to reduce human footprints, enhance the resilience of natural and socioeconomic systems, and help achieve the sustainable development goals.

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is advancing the frontier of integrated research for global sustainability, and for a safe and just climate future. A member of the Leibniz Association, the institute is based in Potsdam, Brandenburg and connected with the global scientific community. Drawing on excellent research, PIK provides relevant scientific advice for policy decision-making. The institute’s international staff of about 400 is led by a committed interdisciplinary team of Directors.

University of Exeter, Global Systems Institute

The Global Systems Institute (GSI) is thought-leading in understanding global changes, solving global challenges and helping create a flourishing future world together, through transformative research, education and impact. GSI's aim is to work with others to secure a flourishing future for humanity as an integral part of a life-sustaining Earth system. GSI's aim to be a ‘go to’ place for global change researchers from around the world, bringing them together with industry, policymakers, students and other stakeholders to tackle shared problems, and acting as a catalyst that enables translation of this research into applications that deliver tangible and sustainable social and ecological benefit.

WCRP Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity.

The Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity is an exploration of the routes to “safe landing” spaces for human and natural systems. It will explore future pathways that avoid dangerous climate change while at the same time contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those of climate action, zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, and healthy ecosystems above and below water. The relevant time scale is multi-decadal to millennial.