MADISON, Wis. — The heat wave in Wisconsin is prompting alerts and advisories. These next few days are predicted to be the hottest weather the state has had all summer.

This comes after the hottest July in recorded history, according to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Andrea Dutton, a professor of geology and sedimentologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is leading international research on climate change.

Her work focuses on studying fossilized corals to track changes in sea level. It’s helping scientists better understand the impact of rising temperatures.

“A lot of what I do is reconstruct past sea levels during warm periods so that we can understand how high sea level gets as temperatures rise and how quickly those ice sheets retreat,” Dutton said.

Her research has taken her around the world and earned her prestigious awards and titles, such as Fulbright Scholar.

Most climate change research is based near oceans and glaciers, so Dutton often has to explain why she moved to Wisconsin in 2019.

“There’s a lot of climate research going on across UW-Madison, so there’s so many connections between the different departments,” she said. “And of course, I was living in Florida and given the current climate change and weather events happening there, it was also a pretty good move probably to move away from Florida and come up north.”

Rising sea levels and increasing temperatures globally have Dutton concerned.

Record-breaking heat in July follows the hottest June on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

“What we’re witnessing right now is the impact of this long-term warming that we have been causing through the emissions of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere,” said Dutton.

Dutton said this warming trend will continue.

“We’ll look back on this year and this summer at some point in our lives and think of it as a cool summer in comparison for what’s to come,” she said.

Research shows increasing temperatures put strain on humans, animals and plants, as well as things like the power grid and infrastructure.

The challenge now, Dutton said, is finding ways to adapt and change course.

“The future is something we can shape based on our actions,” she said. “It’s not written in stone what’s going to happen in the future.”

That’s why she’s so passionate about teaching the next generation of scientists at UW-Madison.

“I feel like in a way that’s my biggest impact, because of all the numbers of the students that I reach, I’m able to teach something about how the earth works and how the climate system works, because it affects all of their lives very directly,” she said.

Dutton said she hopes we all start talking about climate change more.