Join The Explorers Club on Monday, October 21st, to learn about the history, ongoing research, and potential future of Thwaites Glacier, also known as “the Doomsday Glacier,” in West Antarctica.
Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is larger than the state of Georgia and has been called ‘the Doomsday Glacier’. It has the potential to raise global sea level by several inches in this century, and could lead to a rise of over 10 feet eventually. A major research effort, the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), has been focused on the glacier since 2018. Ted Scambos, a lead investigator of ITGC, and Leilani Raashida Henry, ITGC’s teamwork consultant and facilitator will co-present the history, science, climate threats and research team challenges of the project.
Captain James Cook, the famous navigator, was the first to approach the region in 1774. One hundred and sixty-six years later, in 1940, Richard Byrd’s Little America III expedition reached the same place. Using a seaplane, Byrd flew south and made the first crude map of the coast containing Thwaites. On board the USS Bear was Leilani’s father, George W. Gibbs, Jr., the first person of African descent to step on the continent.
This in-person event at the Explorers Club Headquarters will include an audience Q&A.
Streaming live here on explorers.org, our YouTube Channel, and our Facebook Live — Monday, October 21st at 7:00 pm ET.
RESERVATIONS
This will be an in-person lecture at Explorers Club Headquarters.
In-person tickets are $20 for Members, and $35 for the General Public.
Check-in will begin at 6:00 pm, with a beer and wine reception from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Leilani Henry
Leilani Raashida Henry is the author of The Call of Antarctica: Exploring and Protecting Earth’s Coldest Continent, published in 2022. In her book, she utilizes the diaries of her late father, George W. Gibbs, Jr., who served on Admiral Richard E Byrd’s third expedition to Antarctica. She is a demonstrated thought leader, facilitator and coach in the field of Organizational and Leadership Development and has been widely cited in national publications. According to Leilani, “what could be slowing your momentum is all in your head and body –literally.” Leilani is a game changer who specializes in whole brain strategies for individual and collective metamorphosis. She sparks the hearts and minds of those who want extraordinary results aligned with their highest aspirations. She works with the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration-ITGC on their leadership effectiveness, cross cultural communication and teamwork, especially for inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility.
Ted Scambos
Dr. Ted Scambos is a Senior Research Scientist at the Earth Science and Observation Center, a part of CIRES at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He has specializes in using satellite data of the polar ice caps to map these regions in new ways, and studies the effects of climate change in Antarctica. Among his research interests are climate change impacts on the polar regions, Antarctic history, geochemistry and planetary science. He has studied the collapse of ice shelf areas and glacier acceleration in the Antarctic Peninsula, ice streams of the Ross Ice Shelf, and wind-snow interactions on the East Antarctic Plateau. A recent study used satellite thermal data to identify the coldest locations in Antarctica, and the processes that set their minimum winter temperatures. A major focus of his work now is developing instrumentation to try to better monitor and understand Antarctic climate and ocean circulation in areas of major change.
