Tuesday, October 14, 2025 - 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Online
Full title: Measuring Methane in the Arctic: Training the Next Generation of Researchers Through Fieldwork
Speaker: Dr. Ruth Varner
Interim Director of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space and a Professor of Biogeochemistry in the Department of Earth Sciences and the Earth Systems Research Center
Description: Measurements of methane emissions from Arctic ecosystems requires accessing remote locations. This field work, while challenging, provides essential ground based data to compare to models of these important climate sensitive, carbon rich regions.
To accomplish this research, it naturally includes training of the next generation of Arctic researchers. This talk will provide examples of what we are learning about these changing landscapes as well the impact of training students to work together on these complex research projects.
Bio: Dr. Ruth Varner is the Interim Director of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space and a Professor of Biogeochemistry in the Department of Earth Sciences and the Earth Systems Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Her research focuses on trace gas emissions from terrestrial, aquatic and human-managed ecosystems.
Over the past several decades she has established and maintained long-term measurements of methane emissions from wetlands and permafrost peatlands. She currently collaborates with microbial ecologists, remote sensing specialists, and modelers to address questions of scaling processes from regions to the globe. She integrates graduate and undergraduate students into her research and outreach.
Each year, AGCI hosts several public talks featuring leading global change researchers and practitioners. Presented by participants in AGCI’s signature workshop series, these lectures cover the gamut of global change topics from biodiversity threats to urban heat resilience to the history and future of Earth’s climate trajectory.
