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Faculty in Climate |
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There is no more important scientific question facing mankind than the question of how Earth's climate will vary in the future and how changes in climate will affect the health and well being of human society. There exists great concern that humans are affecting changes to Earth's climate. But, there is also great uncertainty about Earth's own natural variability and what causes climate to vary on different time scales. Earth's paleoclimate record reveals a history of variability that far exceeds the variability we have experienced in recorded history. Hence, the emerging question facing climate scientists is why, in light of past changes, has the climate remained so stable for the past 200 years since detailed records have been kept? This question is given greater urgency in the context of how increasing greenhouse gases may influence the behavior of the climate system in the future. Will global warming vis-à-vis greenhouse forcing, act to enhance or mute Earth's own natural climate variability? The answer is simply not known.
The goal of Climate System Dynamics research and education is to conduct research that will lead to an understanding of how, where and why climate changes occur on this planet and, to advance that understanding in a way that can be utilized by society. At the university level there is an important and urgent need to train scientists that have advanced quantitative and multidisciplinary training that facilitate rapid advances in climate system research. During the past 30 years there have been important breakthroughs in our understanding of the physics that controls climate at time scales ranging from weeks to even months. Computer simulations can now produce highly resolved depictions of Earth's climate on these time scales. But, we lack the ability to apply this knowledge and skill to predictions of how climate will behave on longer time scales. The historic record of climate information is far too short to provide an adequate depiction of all the variability that is possible. Earth's geologic record is the only source of information that can provide information about the full range of climate variability. Hence, Earth scientists are playing an increasingly important role in climate system research. The collaboration and integration of Earth science with the other physical sciences is blurring the distinctions between the traditional disciplines involved in climate research.
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