The Computational Science Speaker Series (CSSS) is designed to foster the development of computational science at UVa by promoting engagement with leaders and visionaries in the field. The series is co-sponsored by James Hilton, UVa Vice President and Chief Information Officer; the College of Arts & Sciences; and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
For more information about the CSSS, contact Alice Howard.
Next Event
"Transforming the Sensing and Numerical Prediction of High Impact Local Weather Through Dynamic Adaptation: People and Technologies Interacting with the Atmosphere" by Kelvin K. Droegemeier
- March 28, 2008 at 3:30 PM
- Mechanical Engineering (MEC) Room 205, Reception to Follow
Those who have experienced the devastation of a tornado, the raging waters of a flash flood, the strong winds and high waves of a hurricane, or the paralyzing impacts of lake-effect snows understand that mesoscale weather forms and evolves rapidly, often with considerable uncertainty with regard to location and timing. Such weather is also locally intense and frequently influenced by processes on both larger and smaller scales. Ironically, few of the technologies used to observe the atmosphere, predict its evolution, and compute, transmit, or store information about it operate in a manner that accommodates the dynamic behavior of mesoscale weather. Radars do not adaptively scan specific regions of thunderstorms; numerical models are run largely on fixed time schedules in fixed configurations; and cyberinfrastructure does not allow meteorological tools to run on-demand, change configurations in response to the weather, or provide the fault tolerance needed for rapid reconfiguration. As a result, today's weather technology is highly constrained and far from optimal when applied to any particular situation, especially unpredictable mesoscale weather.
This presentation describes a major paradigm shift now underway in the field of meteorology—away from today's environment in which remote sensing systems, atmospheric prediction models, and hazardous weather detection systems operate in fixed configurations, and on fixed schedules largely independent of weather—to one in which they can change their configuration dynamically in response to the evolving weather. This transformation involves the creation of adaptive radars, Grid-enabled analysis and forecast systems, and associated cyberinfrastructure that operate automatically on demand. In addition to describing the research and technology development being performed to establish this capability within a service oriented architecture, the associated economic and societal implications of dynamically adaptive weather sensing, analysis and prediction systems will be discussed.
Professor Droegemeier, at the University of Oklahoma, directs the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS), and is serving a term on the National Science Board, the governing body of the National Science Foundation. More >>
About Computational Science
Computational science is the field of study concerned with constructing mathematical models, numerical solution techniques, and/or large-scale dataset analysis on high-performance computers to analyze and solve scientific, social scientific, and engineering problems.
According to a June 2005 report of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC): "Together with theory and experimentation, computational science now constitutes the third pillar of scientific inquiry, enabling researchers to build and test models of complex phenomena such as multi-century climate shifts, multidimensional flight stresses on aircraft, and stellar explosions that cannot be replicated in the laboratory, and to manage huge volumes of data rapidly and economically." -Computational Science: Ensuring America's Competitiveness