BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//WordPress - MECv7.37.0//EN X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://essic.umd.edu/ X-WR-CALNAME:ESSIC X-WR-CALDESC:UMD - Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20260308T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=03;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20261101T010000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H X-MS-OLK-FORCEINSPECTOROPEN:TRUE BEGIN:VEVENT CLASS:PUBLIC UID:MEC-22533fb038725070faa56e0d03825120@essic.umd.edu DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260928T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260928T150000 DTSTAMP:20260826T150308Z CREATED:20260826 LAST-MODIFIED:20260922 PRIORITY:5 SEQUENCE:1 TRANSP:OPAQUE SUMMARY:Icy, Moist, Seasonal: Polar Amplification Across the Model Hierarchy DESCRIPTION:\nDr. Nicole Feldl\nUniversity of California, Santa Cruz\nMonday September 28, 2026, 2 PM ET\n\n \nAbstract:\nSince the 1970s, simulations of climate change have predicted warming that is greatest in polar regions. This polar-amplified warming is ubiquitous, though uncertain in magnitude, in climate models subjected to increases in greenhouse gases and has been variously attributed to the ice-albedo feedback, associated with the retreat of reflective sea ice in summer; the lapse rate feedback, associated with vertically nonuniform atmospheric warming in winter; and changes in energy transport by atmospheric circulations. Uncertainty in projections of Arctic climate change arise in part from incomplete understanding of the interconnected nature of these processes. In this talk, I present a new implementation of an idealized model to isolate the role of sea ice loss in driving polar amplification and global climate consequences. I introduce a framework for uniting feedback analysis and feedback locking and with it highlight a midlatitude cloud contribution to Arctic warming. Lastly, I reconcile disparate answers to a fundamental question: is polar amplification an inherent feature of a moist circulating atmosphere or is it dependent on the presence of sea ice? The three parts of the talk illustrate a crucial coupling among high-latitude feedbacks that operates across the seasonal cycle, involves ocean-atmosphere interactions, and relies on the presence of ice thermodynamics to capture the seasonality of polar warming.\n \nBiosketch:\nNicole Feldl is a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research investigates a range of topics within atmospheric and climate dynamics, including climate feedbacks and sensitivity, large-scale atmospheric circulation and moisture transport, and polar amplification of climate change. Through a combination of hierarchical numerical modeling, theory, and observational data analysis, she seeks to expose the physical mechanisms underlying changes in past, present, and future climates. She earned a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Washington, an MS from the University of Colorado, and a BS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received the National Science Foundation CAREER award (2018) to support her research on polar climate dynamics.\n \nZoom Information\nEvent site: https://go.umd.edu/feldl ( https://go.umd.edu/feldl )\nZoom Webinar: https://go.umd.edu/essicseminarwebinars ( https://go.umd.edu/essicseminarwebinars )\nZoom Meeting ID: 971 2692 9944\nZoom password: essic\nUS Toll: 13017158592\nGlobal call-in numbers: https://umd.zoom.us/u/aMElEpvNu ( https://umd.zoom.us/u/aMElEpvNu )\n\nResources:\nSeminar schedule & archive: https://go.umd.edu/essicseminar ( https://go.umd.edu/essicseminar )\nSeminar Google calendar: https://go.umd.edu/essicseminarcalendar ( https://go.umd.edu/essicseminarcalendar )\nSeminar recordings on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ESSICUMD ( https://www.youtube.com/user/ESSICUMD )\nFor IT assistance: Cazzy Medley: cazzy@umd.edu\n URL:https://essic.umd.edu/events/nicole-feldl-uc-santa-cruz/ ORGANIZER;CN=John Xun Yang:MAILTO:jxyang@umd.edu CATEGORIES:Fall 2026 LOCATION:UMD Zoom ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://essic.umd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/headshot_Nicole.Feldl_UCSC.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR