Developing the know-how to investigate hazards
Chapman University
Climate change and its effects are proceeding at ever-escalating rates with hazards, such as fires, droughts, dust storms and hurricanes, increasing in intensity. The impacts are felt at regional and local levels, while also tying vastly different parts of the Earth together.
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| Decision Support Systems for Natural Disasters and Climate Change integrating satellite sensing, GIS and modelling to deliver visualised information and analysis support for decision-making regarding risk mitigation, crisis management and aftermath recovery of natural disasters and climate change impact at local, regional, national or global scales |
Chapman University is pursuing collaboration for programmes of scientific excellence, internally and with other national and international institutions in Europe, Korea and China, and government laboratories and California industry. Focusing on interdisciplinary approaches between hazards and climate science, business, economics and law, it fosters these relationships for the betterment of society and relevance to California, the United States and the world.
Anthropogenic hazards, such as pollution from the world’s megacities, fires and power generation, can create feedback mechanisms, exacerbating naturally occurring changes. Wild fires create land cover changes, impacting vegetation, which in turn impacts local climate. The same fires can affect air quality through transporting aerosols over large distances.
The impacts of clouds and aerosols on the climate system and the role of the biosphere (the “Living Planet”) are not well understood, and there are other challenges, such as how severe weather is tied to the global system. The “clear and present danger” of climate change is the hazards and the havoc they create for human societies, health and our environment.
Chapman University’s overarching quest is to understand these important scientific issues concerning the physical world, the Earth and environment, health and biological processes.
Function of excellence
Computer modelling, simulations and data analysis are engines of economic growth and scientific advancement. The university’s Schmid College of Science (SCS) has made a goal of its strategic growth to become one of the top computational science institutions. Computational science cuts across several fields. It utilises the best in computer science and natural sciences, and complements strong laboratory fields already present. The College provides state-of-the-art facilities and technologies that increase the broad scientific knowledge and build on solid programmes.
Its computational science activities fall into three broad areas with wide applicability to fundamental science as well as scientific applications: integrated bioscience;
global climate change and hazards such as earthquakes, fires, droughts and dust storms, utilising advanced methods in Earth science and Earth observations; and quantum studies.
As part of the SCS, the newly formed Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory serves as the computational physical lab of the Center of Excellence in Earth Observing. It focuses on observations and modelling of the Earth, with particular emphasis on hazards and the impacts of global climate change. It provides researchers and students with appropriate tools in a variety of applications while also enabling collaboration with industry, government agencies at local, state, and federal levels and other stakeholders.
The laboratory gives access to satellite data, utilising advanced computational tools to study hazards including wild fires, severe weather, floods, dust storms and earthquakes. The centre also studies the connection of these hazards to global climate change and the impacts on society.
The future is now
Events projected to happen in the future, for example, the melting of the polar caps, the increase of droughts, increased severity of storms and cyclones, agricultural damages due to flood and melting of glaciers, are happening now.
Satellite data have played a critical role to study, monitor and understand the impacts of natural and anthropogenic hazards: Earth observing instruments such as MODIS, AIRS, CALIPSO, MISR, OMI, among other instruments, are providing valuable information. Furthermore, model runs at global and regional levels, taking into account a plethora of processes (such as aerosols), coupled to satellite and ground measurements, are now beginning to provide important information about global and regional changes. The public and other communities have little knowledge or appreciation of the value of these tools, which, again, necessitates the need for interdisciplinary approaches.
This application of science to real life problems includes building advanced decision-support systems and developing a broad interdisciplinary approach involving scientists, businesses, economists and policy and legal experts. Decision support needs to utilise the best data available from observations and modelling to give decision makers the tools they need. The impacts of hazards and climate change cannot be ignored by society, in the same way that health problems are not and cannot be ignored in modern times. As such, academics have a responsibility to team with Earth observing scientists and involve students as much as possible to push climate change education to the forefront.
Chapman University
W: www.chapman.edu/cs
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