Prof. Julia Smith Wellner ’92 will present an overview of her field research on Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier (known to some as the Doomsday Glacier) and, in particular, how it informs our understanding of how Antarctica is changing. She will also share about the logistics and challenges of getting to Antarctica and working there. Her talk will be about an hour with time for questions at the end.
Wellner is a sedimentologist and stratigrapher who works primarily in high latitudes, including Antarctica as well as Norway and Alaska, on questions related to sediment facies, stratigraphic architecture, glacial history, and sea-level change. She and her students also study modern sediments on the Texas coast.
She earned an A.B. from Bryn Mawr College, an M.S. from University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. in geology and geophysics from Rice University, where she also completed a post-doctoral fellowship. She has been on the faculty at the University of Houston, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, since 2006 where she teaches stratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, modern depositional environments, marine geology, and oceanography.
Wellner has completed over fifteen ocean-going cruises collecting geophysical data and sediment cores, including twelve in Antarctica. She was Co-Chief Scientist on an International Ocean Discovery Program drilling leg to the Amundsen Sea and is a lead Principal Investigator for the Thwaites Offshore Research (THOR) project as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaborative.
R.S.V.P: The event is FREE but you must REGISTER online in order to receive the Zoom.
Questions: Email boston@brynmawr.edu