Listed below are upcoming seminars, workshops and other events of interest to the staff of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and to our research partners.
Please consult with the event host/contact for connection details if you wish to remotely join any event marked as "Virtual" or "Hybrid".
This event listing was last updated 2026-05-13. All times shown are New York City local.
- May 20, 2026
- 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. — Hybrid
- GISS Lunch Seminar
- Topic: Storm Surge Modeling for a Changing Coast: Computation, Uncertainty, and Climate Adaptation
- Speaker: Kyle Mandli (NCAR)
- More info: Abstract
- Host/Contact: Joseph Kelly
GISS Lunch Seminar
Speaker: Kyle Mandli (NCAR)
Title: Storm Surge Modeling for a Changing Coast: Computation, Uncertainty, and Climate Adaptation
This is a hybrid presentation, presented both in-person and on-line. Please consult with event host Joseph Kelly for connection details if you wish to virtually attend.
Abstract:
Translating climate projections into local estimates of coastal flood risk requires models capable of resolving complex coastal hydrodynamics across large ensembles of uncertain future conditions. This talk describes the computational framework underlying modern storm surge simulation and presents applications at the intersection of climate science, probabilistic hazard assessment, and coastal adaptation planning.
I will give a high-level overview of the finite volume methods and adaptive mesh refinement strategies that make high-resolution, ensemble-based storm surge modeling computationally tractable, and discuss how probabilistic hazard frameworks propagate uncertainty across storm scenarios, sea-level rise projections, and evolving storm climatology. Applications will include assessments of how extratropical and tropical cyclone flood return periods shift under climate change, a full pipeline connecting surge simulation to economic impact modeling and adaptation strategy evaluation, and ongoing work coupling storm surge models directly to dynamical weather and climate model output.
I will also discuss active challenges at the boundary of current capability -- compound flooding, wave-current interaction, and coastal structure representation -- and the places where advances in climate modeling could most directly improve the fidelity and scope of coastal hazard assessments and adaptation planning.
[ Close ]
- June 2, 2026
- 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. — Virtual
- Sea Level Rise Seminar
- Topic: Ice/solid-Earth and ice/ocean interactions and their implications for projections
- Speaker: Eric Larour (JPL)
- Host/Contact: Patrick Alexander
- June 9, 2026
- 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. — Virtual
- Sea Level Rise Seminar
- Topic: From Radar Echoes to Ice Sheet Elevations: Insights from historic Altimetry
- Speaker: Maya Suryawanshi (Indian Inst. Sci.)
- Host/Contact: Patrick Alexander
- June 23, 2026
- 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. — Virtual
- Sea Level Rise Seminar
- Topic: Modern sea-level rise breaks 4,000-year stability in southeastern China
- Speaker: Yucheng Lin (CSIRO)
- Host/Contact: Patrick Alexander
- July 14, 2026
- 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. — Virtual
- Sea Level Rise Seminar
- Speaker: David Rounce (NYU)
- Host/Contact: Patrick Alexander
- July 21, 2026
- 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. — Virtual
- Sea Level Rise Seminar
- Topic: From fracture to flow: how calving ice sheets drive melange and fjord dynamics
- Speaker: Yue Olivia Meng (Purdue Univ.)
- Host/Contact: Patrick Alexander
- July 22, 2026
- 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. — Hybrid
- IRI Climate Forecast Briefing
- Host/Contact: Andrew W. Robertson
Meetings and Workshops
No forthcoming meetings, workshops, and other special events organized by GISS staff members have been announced.
Seminars and Colloquia
Almost all seminars may be attended virtually over the Internet, and interested persons should contact the event host for connection details.
Lunch Seminars usually take place on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. two or three times per month, mostly during the academic year. These presentations are usually hybrid, i.e., in-person with option to attend virtually.
Sea Level Rise Seminars occur on Tuesday mornings at 11 a.m., with virtual presentations by scientists from numerous research institutions. This seminar is two or three times per month, year-round.
ROCKE-3D Seminars discussing topics of interest to exoplanetary and paleoclimate researchers are held from time to time.
Videos of many past seminar presentations and other presentations may be found on YouTube.
