Center for Earth System Research (CESR)

The Center for Earth Systems Research was established in 1988 by Michael Ghil. Richard Turco became its Head in Fall 1992

CESR sponsored a series of monthly seminars during the academic year 1992/93. Speakers were invited to discuss interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary topics of interest to the broad membership of CESR.

CESR Developed Software

CESR Seminars 1992-93:

Nov. 19, 1992: Dr. David Halpern, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "Ocean Science: Issues, Programs and Opportunities"

Jan. 21, 1993: Dr. Owen B. Toon, Earth System Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, "The Environmental Impacts of Impacts: Will We Go the Way of the Dinosaurs?"

Feb. 18, 1993: Dr. Richard Dugdale, University of Southern California, "Upwelling, New Production and CO2 Exchange Between the Atmosphere and Oceans"

Mar. 5, 1993: Dr. Paul Crutzen, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, "Biomass Burning: Role in Global Change"

Apr. 22, 1993: Dr. William Dannevik, Director of the Earth Systems Modeling Group, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, "Computing Climate Change: Can We Beat Nature?"

Scientific and Academic Activities

Consortium on the UCLA campus. The Consortium consists of faculty and researchers from almost every department and school on campus. The first open house to establish the Consortium was organized by CESR Director R. Turco at the Faculty Center on June 3, 1992. A second meeting to constitute a Steering Committee for the Consortium was convened by IGPP Director Ghil on November 30, 1993. Michael Ghil was elected Chair of the Committee, and Richard Turco Vice-Chair. Regular meetings of the Steering Committee were held on January 1, 1993, February 11, 1993, March 11, 1993, April 8, 1993 and May 13, 1993. The membership of the Steering Committee is included as Appendix 2 to this report. A campus-wide study session was held on June 14, participation in the Study Session came from about 50 faculty, students, researchers and administrators, representing thirteen departments and other units.

"The Oceans' Thermohaline Circulation and Interdecadal Climate Change," jointly chaired by Michael Ghil and NCAR's James C. McWilliams, and funded by NSF and DOE through UCAR's Climate System Modeling Program. The workshop was attended by about three dozen invited experts from around the world and another two dozen UCLA faculty, students and researchers. It was generally perceived as an important event in the rapid evolution of this field. A follow-up workshop is planned for July 1994 in Holland, with CESR participation.

The Consortium is seeking to organize activities campus-wide that relate to the broadly-defined issue of Global Change and its Regional Impacts. Global Change addresses the environmental effects of human activities, including climate change, air pollution and ozone depletion, and the responses of society to such changes. The implications of Global Change extend into the areas of social sciences, economics, engineering and technology and public policy. The interactions between these various interests must be understood to address the problems raised by Global Change. Toward this end, Prof. Turco organized a multidisciplinary research proposal to the National Science Foundation -- "Regional Integrated Modeling: Analysis for Regional Environmental Assessment," or RIM-AREA. The project would adopt the Los Angeles basin as a case study area to develop methodologies needed to couple the diverse disciplines relevant to Global Change analysis. The proposal was not funded in the first round, but is still under consideration for funding by the agency.

The Consortium has become a major resource for a campus-wide Environmental Task Force established by the Chancellor's Office. The Task Force has been charged with designing a long-term cross-campus Environmental Studies program with educational and research elements. The Task Force is likely to take the lead of the Consortium and set up an Environmental Advisory Committee that will carry forward the work of the Consortium. An Environmental Institute will likely be recommended by the Task Force, with CESR and IGPP having an obvious role in forming that Institute.

A core group of IGPP faculty, with non-IGPP colleagues from a number of Departments, has developed a plan for an interdepartmental graduate studies program in "Geo-Biosphere Dynamics." The Geo-Biosphere program is unique in offering a new series of completely integrated cross-disciplinary graduate courses designed to train interdisciplinary scientists to deal with the complex environmental problems that dominate much of the scientific agenda today. The basic program consists of five new core courses, designed to provide graduate students with a rigorous understanding of the Earth's coupled physical and biological systems. A major proposal was submitted to the UCLA Academic Senate and the Administration in 1991. Although no action has been taken on the proposal so far, it is likely that the Environmental Task Force will recommend that the Geo-Biosphere proposal be adopted as one element of the cross-campus Environmental Studies program.

Future Plans

A joint workshop has been organized between climate scientists at UCLA and Japanese scientists from the Center for Climate System Research (CCSR) at the University of Tokyo and a number of other research institutes and universities in Japan. The workshop on "Atmosphere/Ocean/Land Interactions: Climate Phenomena in the Pacific Basin and Rim--Observations, Modeling and Analysis," is scheduled for November 17-19, 1993 at UCLA. The workshop will set the stage for a long-term collaboration with the scientific community in Japan to simulate the Pacific climate and investigate its short-term predictability. A proposal to support a series of U.S./Japan workshops through 1995 has been submitted to the NSF by CESR and CCSR researchers.

CESR will be sponsoring an Honors Collegium Course, "The Earth: How It Works," (HC-88) in the Spring 1994 Quarter. A number of IGPP members have agreed to give lectures in this course. The Honors course may evolve into a General Education course taught by experts in various aspects of Earth sciences associated with the IGPP and several departments on campus, including Atmospheric Sciences, Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Space Sciences, and Geography.

CESR membership includes: (non-IGPP members department)

Allen, D. (Chemical Engineering)
Arakawa, A. (Atmospheric Sciences)
Baur, M. (Chemistry/Biochemistry)
Berger, C.R.
Berk, R. (Sociology)
Byers, N. (Physics)
Carter, E. (Chemistry/Biochemistry)
Chapman, D. (Biology)
Cohen, Y. (Chemical Engineering)
Coleman, P.
Dracup, J. (Civil Engineering)
Fedema, J. (Geography)
Friedlander, S. (Chemical Engineering)
Ghil, M.
Halpern, D. (Atmospheric Sciences)
Hamner, W. (Biology)
Kaplan, I.
Kastenberg, W. (MANE)
Kaula, W.
Mills, G. (Geography)
Mechoso, C.R. (Atmospheric Sciences)
Neelin, D. (Atmospheric Sciences)
Newman, W. (Earth and Space Sciences, Astronomy, Mathematics)
Nobel, P. (Biology)
Orme, A. (Geography)
Paige, D. (Earth and Space Sciences)
Raphael, M. (Geography)
Rundel, P. (Biology)
Savage, M. (Geography)
Schopf, J.W.
Schubert, G.
Stenstrom, M. (Civil Engineering)
Suffet, I. (Environmental Health Sciences)
Turco, R.
Venkatesan, M.I.
Venkateswaran, S.V. (Atmospheric Sciences)
Vilker, V. (Chemical Engineering)
Wasson, J.
Winer, A. (Environmental Science and Engineering)
Wurtele, M. (Atmospheric Sciences)
Zuckerman, B. (Astronomy)

Total = 41
Graduate and undergraduate students actively involved with CESR research projects (either on payroll status or through fellowships):

Anderson, S.
Chen, F.
Cox, H.
Dettinger, M.
Drdla, K.
Gheorghe, S.
Gu, H.
Hao, Z.
Jacobson, M.
Jiang, N.
Jiang, S.
Lu, R.
Paillard, D. (Universite Paris VI)
Pan, Z.
Ryshko, V.
Sabutis, J.
Saunders, A.
Sezginer, Y.
Shen, M.
Strong, C.
Tabazadeh, A.
Tian, Y.
Yiou, P. (Universite Paris VI)
Zhao, J.-X.
Zhao, X.-P.

Total = 25
CESR members also collaborate with colleagues from other institutions. A non- exhaustive list follows:

Birchfield, G.E. (Northwestern University)
Dickey, J.O. (APL)
Dugdale, R. (University of Southern California)
Feliks, Y. (IIBR, Israel)
Hammill, P. (San Jose State University)
Ingersoll, A. (Caltech)
Jouzel, J. (Laboratoire de Modelisation du Climat et de
l'Environnement/CEA)
Keppenne, C.L. (APL)
Le Treut, H. (Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique/CNRS)
Marcus, S.L. (APL)
Matsuno, T. (University of Tokyo)
Mo, K.C. (Climate Analysis Center, NOAA)
Penland, M.C. (CIRES, NOAA/University of Colorado, Boulder)
Quon, C. (Bedford Oceanographic Institute, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia)
Toon, O.B. (NASA Ames Research Center)
Tribbia, J.J. (NCAR)
Vautard, R. (Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique/CNRS)

Total= 17

Special awards and recognition:

Michael Ghil: Received NSF Special Creativity Award 1993-1995.

Isaak Kaplan: Received the A. Treibs Medal of the Geological Society of America, the highest international honor to an organic chemist.

Richard Turco: Faculty Researcher Lectureship 1992-93. President of the Atmospheric Sciences Section of the American Geophysical Union.

For more information about the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics contact the Institute business office at (310)825-1580; e-mail: director@igpp.ucla.edu

Last Updated: January 30, 1994

tking@igpp.ucla.edu