Each year in the last three decades scientists have paid attention to the status of the ice at the end of the Arctic summer. In past years observations from satellites and submarines have shown decreasing ice thickness and area covered for the months from June to September. That has led to an ongoing debate whether and when the Arctic might be ice free in September.
But scientist are not the only interested parties. There is growing evidence of the connection between Arctic melting and weather events in the Northern Hemisphere, droughts, colds, heat-waves as well as flooding.
Dr. Jennifer Francis is Research Professor at Rutgers’ University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences. Her interests are the Connections between rapid Arctic warming and weather patterns in mid-latitudes, and impacts of Arctic sea-ice loss on accelerated melt of the Greenland ice sheet.
She also has direct personal experience with climate and weather as she and her husband circumnavigated the world in a sailboat between 1980 and 1985.
Jennifer Francis spoke at the New England Aquarium on October 19, 2017.
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