Gina Moseley | The Explorers Club 50

Author: Robbie Shone

Paleoclimatologist/Caver

Finding the frozen past in a warming future

meet gina

A British paleoclimate researcher, polar explorer, and caver, Gina Moseley is a professor at the University of Innsbruck who studies caves as time capsules for past climates. In addition to leading three expeditions to remote caves in Greenland, she has taken part in caving expeditions to India, Malaysia, France, Crete, and the United States. An experienced science communicator, Moseley’s quest to understand the history of Earth’s climate through cave research is vividly portrayed in the IMAX movie, Ancient Caves.

Finding the frozen past in a warming future

Nominated by: Richard Wiese FN'89

Class of 2023 Location Austria

Author: Robbie Shone

While cave-based paleoclimate research has been well-established for several decades, past efforts have focused largely on the tropics and mid-latitudes. Through my work, we are pushing the boundaries of this scientific field by expanding into the High Arctic and, more specifically, Greenland, where the cave deposits are providing a wealth of information for time periods beyond the limit recorded in cores extracted from the Greenland ice sheet, greatly expanding our knowledge about past climate at high latitudes.

Author: Robbie Shone

Author: Robbie Shone

“We have time to avoid the worst if immediate and drastic action is taken. My work is even more important to me now than ever as I now have a young daughter, which has led me to think about the world she will inherit.”

- Gina Moseley

Author: Robbie Shone

In addition to paleoclimate research, I have undertaken expeditions to previously unexplored caves, documenting parts of this world never before seen by human eyes. As a climate scientist looking at periods in the past that were far warmer than today, I am regularly reminded of what is in store for us if we do not reduce our carbon emissions.

We have time to avoid the worst if immediate and drastic action is taken. My work is even more important to me now than ever as I now have a young daughter, which has led me to think about the world she will inherit.