Cyberinfrastructure and Modeling of 
Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry

 

Abstract

My research centers around understanding the environmental effects of human activities and natural forcings on climate and on atmospheric chemistry, ranging from the local to the global scale. For example, we are trying to better understand the effects of human related emissions and natural phenomena like dust storms on the climate of the U.S. and particularly the Midwest, and resulting effects on air quality. We are also trying to improve understanding of whether the expected recovery of stratospheric ozone will actually occur. Most of my research involves analyses of very large datasets, either from the complex numerical models of atmospheric physics and chemistry we use to study these issues or from satellite and other measurement datasets. The models are the integrators of our knowledge while the measurements test that understanding. We face a number of cyberinfrastructure-related issues in this research, ranging from scalability on massively parallel platforms to data mining and visualization. This talk will be aimed at examining these issues, while also exposing a few insights into the science.

Short Bio

Dr. Donald Wuebbles is Head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois and Professor in that department as well as in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research has emphasized the development and use of mathematical models of the atmosphere and Earth system to study the chemical and physical processes that determine atmospheric structure. He is the author of over 300 scientific articles, most of which relate to atmospheric chemistry, with special emphasis on concerns about ozone, to global climate change as affected by both human activities and natural phenomena, and to factors affecting biogeochemical cycles. He also directs a number of research projects that are primarily oriented towards improving our understanding of the impacts that human and natural emissions may be having on the Earth’s climate, on biogeochemical cycles, and on tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry. He developed the concept of Ozone Depletion Potentials used in most policymaking relative to protection of the ozone layer (e.g., the Montreal Protocol and its amendments, the U.S. Clean Air Act). He is co-author of an analogous concept, Global Warming Potentials, being used in considerations of concerns about greenhouse gases and their potential effects on climate. He is a lead author on a number of international assessments related to concerns about stratospheric ozone and about climate change, and is also a lead author on several assessments of the effects of current and projected subsonic and supersonic aircraft on the global environment. He is a lead author of a recent assessment of the potential impacts of climate change on the U.S. Great Lakes region. Dr. Wuebbles is an elected member of the International Ozone Commission and the Chair of the American Geophysical Union’s Executive Board of Heads and Chairs. He is also a Faculty Fellow of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

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