Science Track: Elena Lioubimtseva, Grand Valley State University, Geography: “Global Climate Change and Earth Observations"

Satellite remote sensing data have contributed to major advances in monitoring, qualifying and understanding climate change, its causes, and its impacts. Earth-orbiting satellites enable scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet at a global scale. Scientists unequivocally attribute the global warming trend, observed since the mid-20^th century to the human enhancement of the "greenhouse effect" that occurs when the atmosphere traps heat in the atmosphere. Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment, such as shrinking glaciers and loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise, shifting seasons and ecological zones and more intense weather extremes. In this session, we will examine, how satellite remote sensing data from NASA helps us to visualize and understand human causes and consequences of climate change.