August 18th | A Precise Look at Ice with NASA Researchers Denis Felikson and Steven Fons

Join the Wildling Museum on Thursday, August 18th, 4 - 5 p.m. for a special Zoom presentation by NASA researchers Denis Felikson and Steven Fons as they present “A Precise Look at Ice: Measuring the Earth’s Cryosphere with Centimeter Accuracy from Space.”

In 2018, NASA launched the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) to observe Earth's frozen regions like never before. By emitting thousands of laser pulses toward the Earth every second, ICESat-2 captures the height of the surface with unprecedented detail. These precise height measurements allow researchers to estimate the thickness of glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice and uncover how these ice masses have changed over time.

This presentation will explore the unique features of ICESat-2 and showcase measurements of Earth's ice both on land and sea. First, we will explore the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and look at the surprisingly rapid changes they've gone through. Then, this talk will explain the process of estimating sea ice thickness with ICESat-2 and uncover how the sea ice pack has changed in recent years.

ICESat-2 is helping reveal complexities in Earth's ice like never before, so join us on an exploration of Earth's ice from space.

Suggested donation: $5.00

Click here to view a recording of this past event

The suggested donation for this virtual event is $5.00, click here to donate what you wish. To register to attend this event, click here to sign up on Zoom. This event will be recorded.

Please email info@wildlingmuseum.org or call (805) 686-8315 with any questions.

About the Speakers

Denis Felikson

Denis Felikson’s research focuses on using measurements and models of Earth’s ice sheets to understand how they have changed in the past to improve projections of sea-level rise. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin and currently works in the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. His current work uses the Ice Sheet System Model to recreate ice sheet changes of the recent past as well as simulate future contributions to sea-level change from the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets. He is the data product lead for the ATL06 product on the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) and a member of NASA’s Sea-Level Change Team.

Steven Fons

Steven Fons is a postdoctoral researcher with the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he studies sea ice using a combination of satellite altimetry and in situ measurements. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland researching Antarctic sea ice using the satellite radar altimeter CryoSat-2. Currently, he uses data collected on the year-long Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) Expedition, where he spent more than 5 months in the Arctic Ocean collecting sea ice samples. Steven uses these measurements to help improve sea ice thickness retrievals from the CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 altimeters.

This program is offered in conjunction with the Wildling Museum’s current exhibition, Fire & Ice: Our Changing Landscape, the Wildling’s contribution to the Environmental Alliance of Santa Barbara County Museums. Formed in 2020, the Alliance is a collective of 12 museums, a zoo, and a botanic garden across Santa Barbara county that seeks to combine their impact to raise awareness about environmental issues through focused exhibitions, media campaigns, and educational programming.

The Alliance’s inaugural project—Impact: Climate Change and the Urgency of Now (April-September 2022)—invites visitors to all participating institutions to delve deeper into the complex and vexing challenge that is climate change.

Learn more about the group’s many offerings at www.sbmuseumsalliance.org.