Mathematics in the Geosciences, September 2001 - June 2002

1) How deeply into the physics at smaller and smaller scales must one go to be able to describe adequately pattern formation and its fluctuations in systems with many interacting scales of variability

2) How does one formulate the problems of the interaction between physics and geometry in pattern formation in nonlinear geophysical systems, i.e. between small-scale homogeneity and large-scale heterogeneity?

3) At what level does dynamics, i.e., inertia, become important as an influence on pattern formation in nonlinear geophysical systems?

4) How does one determine the average behavior or "background" in strongly fluctuating systems and its limits of applicability, how do fluctuations emerge from the background, and can a basis be developed for prediction of such fluctuations?

5) What are the appropriate tools for describing fluctuating spatio-temporal patterns?

In this workshop we discuss the observations of patterns in the geosciences and contemporary efforts to model them in studies of the nonlinear geophysics of the solid, liquid, gaseous and granular earth. Examples will be given of the problems of the changing landscape due to erosion and stream/ocean particulate transport, mountain building, plate tectonics, earthquakes, turbulent flows in the atmosphere, oceans, mantle, and core, eddy formation, and multi-scale problems in ocean-atmosphere interactions, paleoclimates, among others. Accessible features from associated laboratory experiments will also be given. Special attention will be given to rapid instabilities, such as reversals of the earth's magnetic field, the nature of friction, episodic mantle flows and plume formation, granular systems, climatic regime shifts and oscillations, cyclones, etc. In this workshop, interaction between the observational and modeling communities will be emphasized.

Keywords: natural and anthropogenic, climate variation, "fingerprinting," episodic vs. oscillatory phenomena, fractals and multifractals

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

LIST OF CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS
(in addition to postdocs and long-term participants)

Abstracts      Tutorial

Mathematics in the Geosciences, September 2001 - June 2002