OSU scientist Lonnie Thompson subject of 'Canary,' premiering at Gateway Film Center

Entertainment staff
·2 min read
In "Canary," OSU climatologist and professor Lonnie Thompson goes on a death-defying quest to salvage historical records from a mountaintop glacier. The documentary will premiere Friday at Gateway Film Center.
In "Canary," OSU climatologist and professor Lonnie Thompson goes on a death-defying quest to salvage historical records from a mountaintop glacier. The documentary will premiere Friday at Gateway Film Center.
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Climatologist Lonnie Thompson's daring expeditions has earned him a comparison to a popular adventure film character played by Harrison Ford.

Now, Thompson — a paleoclimatologist at the Byrd Polar Climate and Research Center at Ohio State University — is the focus of his own adventure film, "Canary," premiering at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High St.

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Called "the closest living thing to Indiana Jones" by Harvard geochemist Daniel Schrag, Thompson, also a distinguished professor in OSU's Earth Sciences department, has spent an unrivaled four-plus years above 18,000 feet, exploring some of Earth's most remote peaks and terrains.

Paleoclimatologists Lonnie Thompson and Ellen Mosley-Thompson at the Byrd Polar Climate and Research Center at Ohio State University. Lonnie Thompson, a professor and senior research scientist in OSU's Earth Sciences department is the subject of "Canary," a documentary premiering Friday at Gateway Film Center.
Paleoclimatologists Lonnie Thompson and Ellen Mosley-Thompson at the Byrd Polar Climate and Research Center at Ohio State University. Lonnie Thompson, a professor and senior research scientist in OSU's Earth Sciences department is the subject of "Canary," a documentary premiering Friday at Gateway Film Center.

Thompson and his wife, fellow professor and research partner Ellen Mosley-Thompson, will give an introduction to the 104-minute documentary, followed by a Q&A session. Other showtimes will be 7 p.m. Friday; 1:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Saturday; 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. (with Q&A) Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20; and 6:15 p.m. Sept. 21.

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Thompson's quests include transporting six tons of equipment to the world's highest glaciers, where he drilled into layers of ancient ice to extract priceless historical records. From these ice cores, he unearthed climate histories spanning hundreds of thousands of years, details of ancient volcanic activity, and, most significantly, proof of human-induced climate change.

Lonnie Thompson, paleoclimatologist at the Byrd Polar Climate and Research Center at Ohio State University, examines an ice core sample from the center's massive collection.
Lonnie Thompson, paleoclimatologist at the Byrd Polar Climate and Research Center at Ohio State University, examines an ice core sample from the center's massive collection.

Thompson and the OSU team developed lightweight solar-powered drilling equipment to acquire these records from ice fields in the South American Andes, the Himalayas, and on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Produced by Oscilloscope Laboratories, "Canary" also will be released nationwide in select theaters, including Cinemark Polaris 18, 1071 Gemini Place, where it will be shown at 7 p.m. Sept. 20.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OSU climatologist Lonnie Thompson in Gateway Film Center documentary