Climate Modeling Workshop
Workshop Dates: August 8-11, 2011 & August 9-12, 2010
Workshop Location: Dickinson College, Carlisle PA
All workshop expenses and food are included upon acceptance to the Climate Modeling workshop. Travel to Dickinson College and housing must be paid by participant.
Eligibility: Open to all faculty and teaching staff of any higher education institution, or other institutions of education.
About the Climate Modeling Workshop:
Participants in the Climate Modeling and Data Tools Workshop received training in the use of a NASA global climate model (GCM) and tools to integrate and visualize climatic, environmental and socioeconomic data for teaching about climate change at the undergraduate level. The climate modeling component of the workshop made use of EdGCM, a software package developed at Columbia University and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) that integrates a computer climate model with a point-and-click interface and scientific visualization and mapping tools. EdGCM simplifies the set up, running, and analysis of climate model experiments. It is in use at universities and secondary schools around the world, helping students learn about climate science and computer modeling through hands-on activities. The GCM embedded within EdGCM’s user-friendly framework is a one of NASA’s research quality climate models and has been used to produce hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific publications over the past three decades. The training assisted faculty members in implementing and developing exercises that enable students to use EdGCM as a research tool to test climate change hypotheses in the same manner employed by climate scientists.
The data tools portion of the workshop developed capacity for using spatial analysis tools and build familiarity with selected NASA and other datasets for teaching about climate change and human-environment interactions. Training focused on accessing and using a variety of datasets, including datasets and imagery maintained by NASA and the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) of Columbia University, and using spatial analysis tools such as Google Earth, ArcGIS, and Teraviva!SEDAC Viewer. Examples of data sets used in the training include the Gridded Population of the World, the Urban Extents Database, natural hazards distributions, climate data from NASA/GISS, land cover data sets derived from MODIS imagery, and data sets of malnutrition, infant mortality, and other social and economic parameters.
Climate Modeling Workshop Facilitators:
Mark Chandler, Associate Research Scientist, Columbia University and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Mark is the Director of the Educational Global Climate Modeling (EdGCM) Project, a program aimed at improving public and private sector access to climate simulation technologies. His research focuses on the use of computer climate models to study warm climates of Earth’s past and future. Mark was a contributing author on the most recent report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis) and he has been the lead investigator on research projects funded by NASA, the US Geological Survey, and the National Science Foundation.
Linda Sohl, Associate Research Scientist, Columbia University and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Linda is Associate Director of the Educational Global Climate Modeling (EdGCM) Project, and has an active role in providing training and support for EdGCM users. Her research includes computer simulation of extreme climate scenarios with a focus on data-model comparisons, using both geological field data and computer climate simulations to validate numerical climate models such as those used in the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report.
Alex de Sherbinin, Deputy Manager, Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, and researcher at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), an environmental data and analysis center within the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Alex also serves as coordinator of the Population-Environment Research Network, a 1,800 member network of researchers from around the world. Alex has published widely on the human aspects of environmental change at local, national and global scales, including on climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation.
James Ciarrocca, GIS Specialist at Dickinson College, is a Certified GIS Professional (GISP) with over 25 years experience in designing, developing, implementing, and managing GIS application projects. His GIS background includes experience as a Project Manager, Systems Engineer, Data Analyst, Consultant, and Educator. He has worked on a wide range of projects for varied clients, including the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); and has taught numerous undergraduate, graduate, short courses, and workshops on GIS.