Brown University: Global Warming
Modern Physics Is Critical to Global Warming Research - 03/11/08
In a March 11, 2008, presentation at the American Physical Society meeting in New Orleans, Brown University physicist Brad Marston makes the case that statistical physics can provide a better understanding of global weather patterns - information critical for more accurately predicting climate change.
Science has come a long way with predicting climate. Increasingly sophisticated models and instruments can zero in on a specific storm formation or make detailed weather forecasts - all useful to our daily lives. But to understand global climate change, scientists need more than just a one-day forecast. They need a deeper understanding of the complex and interrelated forces that shape climate.
This is where modern physics can help, argues Brad Marston, professor of physics at Brown University. Marston is working on sets of equations that can be used to more accurately explain climate patterns. Marston will explain his research as part of a panel discussion titled "The Physics of Climate and Climate Change," scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on March 11, 2008, at the American Physical Society's meeting in New Orleans. Marston will also take part in a 1 p.m. press conference prior to the presentation.
Take the drying of Lake Mead in the western United States. Scientists think the lake, which straddles Nevada and Arizona, may already be getting less rain due to shifting weather patterns caused by a warming world. Computer models can follow those rainfall patterns and forecast the likely effects on the lake. But current models obscure the larger mechanisms - such as shifting storm tracks - that can drive changes in rainfall.
Marston's statistical approach can be used to help crack the code of complicated, dynamic atmospheric processes poorly understood through models, such as convection, cloud formation, and macroturbulence, which refers to the currents, swirls and eddies in the global atmosphere. More fundamentally, Marston said this approach can help to deepen understanding of what is happening in today's climate and what those changes can mean for climate in the future.
