2024-2025: Ocean Sciences: Michael Meredith

Michael Meredith
British Antarctic Survey

Biography

Professor Michael Meredith is an oceanographer and Science Leader at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, UK, and Professorial Fellow in Oceanography at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. He created the Polar Oceans team at BAS, which has research foci on determining the role of the polar oceans on global climate, the ice sheets, and the interdisciplinary ocean system. He is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union, and a NERC Individual Merit Promotion (Band 2) scientist. He has published more than 200 papers in international journals, and was the inaugural chair of the Southern Ocean Observing System. He led the design and delivery of the multi-institute, £10M ORCHESTRA programme, which has contributed to unravelling the role of the Southern Ocean in controlling global climate. In 2019, he was Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.
In 2018, Michael was awarded the Tinker-Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica, in recognition of his contributions to the study of the Southern Ocean and its global impacts, and the Challenger Medal, for exceptional contributions to Marine Science. In 2020, he was awarded the Polar Medal. In 2021, Michael was elected to serve as President of the Challenger Society for Marine Science, the UK’s pre-eminent learned body for research of the ocean.
In 2023, Michael assumed the position of Joint Director for the UK National Climate Science Partnership (UKNCSP), an initiative that involves seven of the country’s leading research institutes with the intention of enhancing the production and delivery of scientific evidence for policymakers, industry, and the media, and those in other sectors who consume climate information.


Abstract: Climate change and Planet Earth: a view from the poles

Despite being remote to many of the major population centres of the planet, the polar regions are critical components of the Earth System.  They are central to the planetary-scale ocean circulation, they strongly govern and modulate our climate, they are home to the last remaining ice sheets, and coupled processes here exert huge influence on global ocean productivity.  The polar oceans are disproportionately threatened by climate change: they are warming rapidly, sea ice is retreating, and acidification is advancing strongly.  These changes have potential to disrupt the marine ecosystem, with consequences for food security and sustainable livelihoods, both for local and Indigenous populations and beyond.  Further rapid transformations are predicted throughout this century, though the severity of their impacts will depend strongly on action taken now to mitigate climate change.  This talk will provide an overview of the changing polar regions and their importance to Planet Earth and its inhabitants, drawing on findings from recent and ongoing research programmes and assessments, including those conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and others.