Johann Bernoulli lezing 17
(dinsdag 18 maart 2008)
Hans Oerlemans (Universiteit Utrecht)
The Earth: an icy planet
Accumulating geological evidence suggests that our planet went through a series of snowball-earth events, with snow and ice covering the entire globe.
In other episodes temperature was so high that glaciers of any significance did not exist. During the past few million years the Antarctic ice sheet has been in
a quasi-steady state, but pulsating ice sheets were found on the Northern Hemisphere continents. Large fluctuations in ice cover have thus characterized the
evolution of the Earth's climate.
In this lecture we will discuss the mechanisms behind these fluctuations. With some basic understanding we can perhaps make a speculative statement about the
future of our planet.
Laudatio: Floris Takens (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)
