On selected Friday evenings, climate scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and International Research Institute for Climate and Society lead visitors through sections of the Salgado exhibition related to each scientist's field of study, explaining the climate conditions and environmental threats particular to the geographic regions documented in the photographs.
Kátia Fernandes is a climate scientist at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society. Her research has shown that temperature changes in the tropical Atlantic Ocean can lead to extreme, prolonged droughts in the Western Amazon, which causes damaging wildfires there. She developed the first model based on this land-ocean connection to help predict fire activity in the region up to three months in advance. Fernandes is also developing models to study how climate change is expected to affect the Amazon over the next few decades. Before becoming a scientist, she was a broadcast meteorologist in Brazil for The Weather Channel.
Alessandra Giannini is a climate scientist at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society. Her work on the climate of Africa's Sahel showed conclusively that the devastating droughts and ensuing famines that hit the region in the 1970s and 1980s could be explained by temperature changes in global tropical oceans. Giannini's research made these droughts potentially more predictable. It also helped challenge a widely held belief that local populations in the Sahel were responsible for the environmental disaster because of rapid population growth and mismanagement of natural resources. Giannini is a recipient of the prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.
This walkthrough takes place during voluntary admission hours in the Museum.
This event is part of the Fall 2014 programming series ICP Talks: Climate Change. For a complete listing of series events, click here.
ICP gratefully acknowledges our partnership with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society of Columbia University | Earth Institute, The Climate Group and Climate Week NYC, and The Human Impacts Institute, Brooklyn, in developing and presenting public programs to accompany the exhibition Sebastião Salgado: Genesis.
