MPE2013 provides opportunities for networking with other disciplines and capacity building in regions of the world. One such project is the workshop “Mathematics of Climate Change, Related Natural Hazards and Risks,” which will take place in Guanajuato, Mexico, July 29 to August 2, 2013, as a a satellite activity of the Mathematical Congress of the Americas.
This workshop is the first to be organized jointly by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) and International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) and is sponsored by the International Council of Science (ICSU), the International Council of Industrial and Applied Mechanics (ICIAM) and the Centro de Investigación en Matematicas (CIMAT), Guanajuato, Mexico. It is supported by the regional office of ICSU for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC), by two bodies of ICSU: World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), by the U.S. National Academy of Science (NAS), and by Academia Mexicana de Ciencias (AMC). The workshop is symbolic for the overarching impact of “Mathematics of Planet Earth” (MPE2013) on the mathematics, mechanics, and geophysics scientific communities worldwide. The main objective of the workshop is to facilitate an international multidisciplinary discussion around the central topics of climate research, environmental hazards, and sustainable development. The workshop is targeted at a diverse group of participants, mainly coming from Central and South America.
Mathematics, statistics, and mechanics are essential tools in geodesy and geophysics. Broadly defined, quantitative mathematical training is an essential part of the preparation of the future generation of researchers dealing with climate change and natural hazards. Mathematical methods play a defining role in modern climate and natural hazards studies. The workshop will allow a diverse group of post-doctoral students and young researchers, including a large group of female scientists, mainly from Central and South America, to learn from and interact with internationally recognized leading experts in different aspects of the rapidly growing multifaceted field of global environmental change. The workshop will result in establishing new research ties and specific projects within and outside the Americas.
The scientific program consists of a series of lectures delivered by nine international leaders in the field of climate science and natural hazards. The lecture topics will be divided into three general themes. Each thematic block will be concluded with a roundtable, facilitated by one of the lecturers and a student, which will help summarize the material presented and draw conclusions. The workshop will provide ample opportunities for interaction and informal discussions.
The workshop will focus on the modern quantitative data- and model-driven approaches towards predictive understanding of the climate change, the effects of a changing climate on other natural hazards, and the related risks and socio-economic implications. Particular emphasis will be given to hazards in Central and South America.
The workshop presentations will be structured around three main themes.
Theme 1 — Methodology of the climate and natural hazards research: This theme will focus on the essential methodological aspects of climate science, with emphasis on the cross-links among geosciences, mathematics, and computer science. Data assimilation, statistical approaches to paleoclimate reconstruction, tracer-based techniques, large-scale numerical modeling, dynamical system theory, and Lagrangian transport in geophysical flows are some of the topics that will be presented by the leading experts in the respective fields. A comprehensive review of past Earth climates and climate forecast approaches will also be given.
Theme 2 — Climate change and environmental hazards: This theme will review specific data sets and models that quantify the past and present changes in Earth’s climate and project them into the future. The speakers will give an overview of various environmental hazards related to the changing climate, their impacts, and mitigation strategies.
Theme 3 — Socio-economic implications of climate change and extreme hydro- meteorological hazards: The changing climate and the related natural hazards and risks pose a multitude of pressing social, economic, and ethical questions. The lectures in this theme will provide a broader view of the climate research and its intrinsic connections with many important aspects of human life and society.
The confirmed speakers are Graciela Canziani, Susan Cutter, Oscar Velasco Fuentes, Michael Ghil, Eugenia Kalnay, Carlos R. Mechoso, George Philander, Bala Rajaratnam and Eli Tziperman.
The Scientific Committee is composed of Susan Friedlander (IMU), Paul Linden (IUTAM) and Ilya Zaliapin (IUGG).
The application deadline for participants is April 30, 2013. Priority will be given to young researchers from Latin America and the Caribbean. Apply here.
Christiane Rousseau