Cornwall Campus event explores climate change and sandy coastlines

How can we identify the impacts that climate change has had on sensitive landscapes in the past? How can we tell how vulnerable these landscapes are to future climate change? What does this mean for sandy coastlines – like those in Cornwall? Find out at the Cornwall Campus (known locally as Tremough), Penryn, on Thursday 30 October.

In the next public lecture of the University of Exeter’s International Year of Planet Earth series, Dr Jasper Knight will explore the dynamic behaviour of sandy coastlines. He considers why they are sensitive to climate change, and what evidence can be used to show this. Using examples from his research worldwide, Dr Knight will discuss the evolution of these sandy coastlines over long and short time scales. He will show why they will, uniquely, be the smoking-gun for climate change.

This is the latest in a series of monthly public lectures organised by the Geography Department of the University of Exeter. The lectures bring local people together with leading experts to discuss issues facing our planet.

Dr Jasper Knight comments: “Cornwall is famous for its beautiful sandy coastline, but are our beaches under threat from climate change? By looking at what happened in the past we are now starting to predict what the future could hold for sandy coastlines.”

Based on the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus (Tremough), Dr Jasper Knight is a geoscientist with research interests in the effects of high-frequency climate changes on the sedimentary systems of glacial and coastal environments. He has conducted research throughout the British Isles and in North America and has published over 40 articles in peer-reviewed international journals.

Event details:
Dr Jasper Knight Climate Change and Sandy Coastlines
Thursday 30 October, 6.30pm Tremough Campus, Penryn (Lecture Theatre A)  
This event is free of charge and booking is not required.

Want to understand more about this planet we call home? Interested in what makes the Earth tick? Wonder what challenges we face in the future? The University of Exeter’s Geography Department invites you to find out the answers. Across its campuses in Exeter and Cornwall, the University is celebrating 2008 as the United Nation’s International Year of Planet Earth and is giving a series of free evening lectures on the past, present and future of Earth.

Other events in the series:

Thursday 27 November, 6.30pm Streatham Campus, Exeter (Moot Room) 
Chris Turney: Ice, Mud and Blood: Lessons from Climates Past

Thursday 11 December, 6.30pm Tremough Campus, Penryn (Lecture Theatre A)  
Chris Caseldine: Iceland - living on the margin

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