A glaciologist at Ohio State University, Prof Thompson has been dubbed "the ice man" after spending more than 30 years gaining his evidence of climate change the hard way, by laboriously drilling core samples from ice, much of it at high altitude in mountains throughout the world.
He gave a public lecture on climate change at the University of Otago's St David lecture theatre this week.
His wife, Prof Ellen Mosley-Thompson, who is also a leading climate scientist, gave a public talk on polar aspects of climate change at the Otago Museum's Hutton Theatre.
Prof Thompson had to do quite a bit of soul searching last year, before he was awarded a prestigious National Medal of Science - the highest honour the US bestows on a scientist - for his work providing explicit evidence of global climate change.
A potential problem was that the medal was to be presented in person by President George W. Bush, who has long been strongly sceptical about climate change.
"I did think it was ironic," Prof Thompson said.
Prof Thompson, who decided to accept the award, said that throughout the world politicians were becoming increasingly aware about climate change issues.
The Thompsons, who both acted as advisers to former US vice-president Al Gore in the production of his 2006 documentary, said they had initially received some criticism, including from some staff at their own university, for their involvement with An Inconvenient Truth.
But the scientists said they had "no regrets" and the film had been hugely influential in raising awareness of global warming challenges among the public and politicians throughout the world.
Prof Thompson said Otago University researchers were contributing significantly to international collaborative efforts to better understand climate change.
During their visit to Dunedin, the Thompsons have been participating in the Otago University Polar Research Theme Roundtable discussions on research progress.
The visitors have also met researchers involved with the Otago University Ocean and Climate Change Research Centre, as well as other scientists working on terrestrial ice and glaciers as part of the university's Active Earth Processes research theme.
