What Caused the Rivers on Mars:
Climate Change or Impacts?

ABSTRACT:
Since Mariner 9 took images of Martian river valleys in 1971, we have struggled to understand how they were formed.  Mars is thought to have had a dense atmosphere with enough greenhouse gases to have maintained a balmy, wet climate.  To date, no one has managed to construct a climate model to support this theory and the river valleys remain a mystery.  Recently, a new idea has emerged suggesting that asteroid impacts may have led to the release of water from beneath Mars’ surface.  This talk will explore how impacts could create rivers and Mars’ climate history.

Noctilucent Cloud on the Edge of Space –
Shedding Light on the Atmosphere

ABSTRACT:
The discovery of noctilucent (night shining) clouds in 1885 revealed an atmosphere which extended far higher than expected. Since then, these clouds have challenged scientists around the world to find out why they form and vary. Because they scatter solar light, they shimmer at altitudes far above the typical cloud (~51 miles) which makes them an excellent tool to find out more about upper atmospheric processes. Dr. Bodil Karlsson explore how variations in these clouds has revealed new information about the structure and behavior of that thin layer of gas that protects us from outer space.

download lecture slides (PDF)