Presentation by Keith Potts

Keith is a retired oil and gas geophysicist who holds membership with the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia, The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) (USA) & the Australian SEG, The Australian Meteorology and Oceanographic Society, and the American Geophysical Union.

Keith’s interests include climate change, renewable energy, biofuels, and new technology start-up companies. Keith is a Director of BioAngels, a South Australian based ‘angel investor’ group.

Since 2006 Keith has been working in the area of Climate Change Research; he has published a number of papers on the subject including: Rereading the IPCC Report: Aerosols Droughts and ENSO Events which he presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA, 2008, and Rereading the IPCC Report: Aerosols, Droughts and ElNino/ ENSO which he presented at the 9th International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography in Melbourne in 2009.

South eastern Australia endured an exceptional long term and severe drought during the last decade with the River Murray, the major waterway in the area, experiencing inflows at record low levels in 2006-07 which were more than 40% below the previous low. As the literature, IPCC and the USA Climate Change Science Program shows, aerosols can affect the large-scale atmospheric circulation and hydrologic cycle.

This talk will explain how parameters such as aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol index (AI) of the South East Asian Plume (SEAP) and the volume of aerosols ejected by volcanoes (tephra) in south east Asia correlate with drought in Australia and concludes that the effect of the intensification of the SEAP over time by Aerosol Regional Dimming (ARD) has caused drought in Australia and contributed to climate change.

Where: Kings Head Hotel - cnr King William and Sturt St, Adelaide

When: Thursday 10 April 2014

What time: 5.30 pm for 5.45 pm start

Cost: Members NO CHARGE

Non-members $10

Non-Member Students $5 (Please call central office 03 03 9654 7473) to register

(cost includes nibbles and a complimentary drink)

Queries to Division Secretary: matthew.harding@iluka.com or 0437 146 220

This seminar is part of EIANZs commitment to on-going professional development
for its members in SA