(Serreze, Mark C. - 2017) -- Professor of Distinction
Overview
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Mark Serreze’s upbringing amid Maine’s snowy winters inspired him to study ice. He earned his PhD from CU Boulder in 1989 and became director of the university’s National Snow and Ice Data Center, a project of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), in 2009. Many scholars esteem Serreze’s expertise in Arctic Sea decline: shrinking sea ice, rapidly rising temperatures and thawing permafrost result from global warming, and studying these conditions leads Serreze to express serious concern about the dangers of climate change. He is very active in science outreach and education, and he argues that “Today, more than ever, it is important that scientists reach out and make science more accessible and relevant to society.” His recent research addresses the predictability of Arctic sea ice conditions on seasonal time scales, with the aim of being able to predict winds, currents and related conditions months in advance. This capacity to forecast Arctic weather patterns is invaluable because the Arctic has become such a busy place for marine shipping, oil and natural gas exploration, tourism and other activities.
