Could Global Warming Mean Less Sunshine and Less Rainfall? with Beate Lippert

Click here to view a pdf version of Beate Lippert's presentation.

     Over the last four decades, scientists have observed a 1.3% per decade decline in the amount of sun light reaching the Earth's surface. This phenomenon, coined “global dimming” is due to increasing air pollution and changes in clouds that are impeding the suns ability to penetrate.

     Scientists believe that the combination of growing quantities of man-made aerosol particles in the atmosphere and more moisture are causing the cloud cover to thicken. Despite this decline in solar radiation, the Earth’' surface continues to warm. An explanation for this paradox is that a warmer world may mean a wetter and dimmer world.

     Results of the latest research on this subject and assessments of what happens when air pollution is reduced will be discussed.

For more information about Dr. Lippert's work: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~liepert/

The Plumeflow Project" with Martin Stute

To view Martin Stute's presentation, click here for the ppt version and here for the pdf version.

    The Plumeflow project links the research performed within EMSI with educational activities through the development of both physical and virtual simulations that can be used to illustrate the basic principles of groundwater contaminant transport on length scales from the molecular level to the field level. The modules are flexible enough that they can be adapted to teaching a wide range of individuals, from elementary school students through graduate students pursuing their Ph.Ds.

    The models are being tested in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms in a number of New York City schools, beginning in the Spring of 2002. Each model consists of a small tank filled with a sand and gravel aquifer with clay as a confining layer, water intake and out-take valves, and plastic tubing "wells" that allow the introduction of contaminants (in the form of dyes). The user can inject a dye, watch it move through the sand tank, and evaluate the positive and negative effects of pumping and other remediation techniques. Professors Roberta Mitchell and Susan Sacks of the Barnard Education Program participated in the outreach component to these schools.

     Click here for a PowerPoint "time lapse" demonstration of the flow. (Note: in excess of 2 mb)

    The teachers who are using the models in their classrooms participated in a training workshop with Professor Martin Stute in summer 2001 that covered both the underlying science and how to use the model in a classroom. A second training session was held in October of 2002 to include more teachers and schools in the project. New and old teachers and their students gathered at a Sand Tank Science Fair in May of 2003 to share the projects they have done using the sand tanks.

For more about the Plumeflow Project: http://research.radlab.columbia.edu/Emsi/edout/sandtanks/

For more about Columbia University's Environmental Molecular Sciences Institute, funded jointly by the DOE and the NSF: http://research.radlab.columbia.edu/Emsi/index.html