Exmouth, Australia
Position:
23°10’S, 114°31’E
Datemark:
July 2009
Mission:
Collect multimedia material on research about sea level during the Pliocene, 3.5 million years ago
Under Auspices of:
United States Geological Survey; U.S. National Science Foundation
Transport:
Commercial air to Melbourne, Australia; 4-wheel-drive vehicle to Exmouth Gulf (total travel millage about 5000 miles)
Results:
Multimedia features
SYPNOPSIS
Many researchers consider climate change a serious threat to individual plant and animal species, to entire ecosystems and even to human civilization itself. In public discourse, concern generally focuses on temperature alone. But many scientists say the most serious danger is actually the impact ice sheets have on sea level when they melt. Sea Change: What Was/May Be, will be a suite of media products designed to raise public awareness about the possibility of global-warming-induced sea level rise and how scientists study it. The project is focusing primarily on the research of the PLIOMAX project led by paleoclimatologist Maureen Raymo of Boston University. She has assembled a team of scientists whose goal is to bring greater certainty to estimates of sea level during past warm climate periods.