Extreme floods, droughts and heatwaves, and how scientists are battling to deal with the effects of our rapidly warming planet, will be the subject of the first annual Grantham Lecture at Imperial College London on Thursday 22 May 2008.
Journalists are invited to the lecture, which will be given by Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, world-leading meteorologist and Director of Imperial's Grantham Institute for Climate Change.
Speaking at Imperial's South Kensington campus, Sir Brian will describe how global warming is affecting weather patterns, and how it could lead to extreme weather events such as scorching hot summers in Europe, and super-powered storms like Hurricane Katrina becoming more and more frequent.
During the lecture Sir Brian will outline the dramatic effects that climate change and extreme weather could have on the planet including: how rising temperatures are threatening to reduce biodiversity and damage important agricultural land; how rising sea levels could threaten the supply of fresh drinking water in some developing countries; and how changing temperatures could mean tropical diseases like malaria take hold in previously unaffected countries.
He will illustrate how researchers at Imperial College hope to tackle these problems, and how they are also working on alternative fuels and carbon capture technologies to reduce the levels of warming greenhouse gasses currently emitted into the atmosphere.
Speaking before the lecture, Sir Brian said: "When people talk about climate change, they often assume that changes will be slow and steady. However, some evidence suggests that as the climate changes, we will see extreme events, like the very hot British summer of 2003 and the contrasting summer floods in England in 2007, occurring more often.
"In my lecture, I'll look at the evidence for this, outline some of the consequences of volatile weather and climate change, and show what's being done here at Imperial to tackle these consequences."
Sir Brian's lecture, entitled, "Reflections on climate change and what we can do about it" takes place on Thursday 22 May 2008 from 18.30 - 19.30 in the Clore Lecture Theatre, Huxley Building, on Imperial's South Kensington campus.
Entry to this event is by ticket only. Free tickets must be reserved in advance by emailing amy.thompson@imperial.ac.uk
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