March 2021

Ellen Mosley-Thompson is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geography (Atmospheric Science Program) and a Senior Research Scientist in the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University. She uses the chemical and physical properties preserved in cores collected from both polar ice sheets and high mountain glaciers to reconstruct Earth’s complex climate history. These records indicate that Earth’s climate has moved outside the range of natural variability experienced over at least the last 2000 years. She has led nine expeditions to Antarctica and six to Greenland to retrieve ice cores. In 2010 she led the field team for the ice core drilling project on Bruce Plateau (Antarctic Peninsula), a U.S. contribution to the International Polar Year, where the team collected a 448-meter core to bedrock. She has published over 140 peer-reviewed papers and is the recipient of over 50 research grants. Ellen is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Lonnie G. Thompson is a Distinguished University Professor in the School of Earth Sciences and a Senior Research Scientist in the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University. His research has propelled the field of ice core paleoclimatology out of the Polar Regions to the highest tropical and subtropical ice fields. He and the OSU team have developed light-weight solar-powered drilling equipment for acquisition of histories from ice fields in the tropical South American Andes, the Himalayas, and on Kilimanjaro. These paleoclimate histories have advanced our understanding of the coupled nature of Earth’s climate system. Special emphasis has been placed on the El Niño and monsoon systems that dominate the climate of the tropical Pacific and affect global-scale oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns. His observations of glacier retreat over the last three decades confirm that glaciers around the world are melting and provide clear evidence that the warming of the last 50 years is now outside the range of climate variability for several millennia, if not longer. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and is the recipient of over 70 research grants. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society and he is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2007, he received the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest award given to scientists.

Learn more:

• Dr. Ellen Mosley-Thompson's biography
• Dr. Lonnie Thompson's biography
• Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
• "QED with Dr. B" (30-minute PBS episode) featuring Dr. Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Dr. Lonnie Thompson