How can comparative planetology teach us more about Earth and global warming? 

Warming of planets in the solar system has sometimes been advocated as evidence that the Earth’s warming is unrelated to human activities. The reasoning is that, since global warming is being experienced not only on Earth, but also on other planetary objects, Earth’s warming has nothing to do with humans, but is due to astronomical causes. 

This talk examines claims and causes of warming of other bodies in the solar system, in particular those at the periphery of the solar system and Mars. Temperature variations must be investigated for each planet specifically: similarities of trends (warming or cooling) cannot be used by default as evidence that one or more processes external to the planets  themselves produce the trends. 

Dr Graziella Caprarelli  leads Research & Development at the School of the Environment at UTS. Her research interests are in the field of Earth and Planetary Science, particularly in the areas of volcanism and evolution of terrestrial planets.  

In 1991, Dr Caprarelli completed her PhD in Earth Sciences from the University “La Sapienza” (Rome, Italy) and has been at UTS since 1996. She was a NASA-NRC Fellow at NASA - Johnson Space Center (Houston, TX, USA) in 2001-2002. In 2006, she was a Visiting Fellow at the International School of 
> Planetary Sciences in Pescara (Italy) and holds membership to a number of space science research groups including the European Space Agency Mars Express mission subsurface radar sounder (MARSIS) science team, the planning and scientific team of the Mars-XRD diffractometer, one of the ExoMars Rover instruments scheduled to land on Mars during the ExoMars mission (2016-2018) and the National Committee for Space Science.  

 UTS honours student Emily Bathgate has been researching sub-ice volcanism and analysing volcanic activity and ice sheet formation on Mars. After winning the 2010 VSSEC- NASA Australian Space Prize, Emily recently returns from a 10 week academy program giving her the opportunity to work with other students from around the world at the NASA Ames Research Centre in California, USA. 

Emily now hopes to embark on a PhD project in space geology looking further into the existence of an ocean on Mars eventually progressing to a post doctorate position at NASA working in space science.  

When: 

Wednesday 16 November 2011 
6pm drinks for 6:30pm start. Concludes at 7:45pm  

Where: 

UTS Building 2 
Level 4 (entry level) Room 4.13 
Broadway, Ultimo

Map 

Transport: 

UTS is a ten minutes walk from Central Station, Eddy Avenue and Railway Square bus stops. Parking is available for those with a disability or special need to drive: Peter Johnson Building, Basement Car Park, 702-730 Harris St, Ultimo.  

RSVP: 

Tuesday 15 November  2011 

Registration is essential so please register now. 
 

For further information you can contact Lisa Aloisio   Lisa.Aloi...@uts.edu.au via email or call 02 9514 8271. This is a free public lecture series presented by UTS experts in science; discussing a range of important scientific issues confronting contemporary Australia.