Jason Davidson (University of Waterloo)Title: Coupled Atmospheric and Hydrologic ModelingIntegrated hydrologic models require high-resolution atmospheric data sets. However, traditional modeling approaches use low-resolution met station data for an entire catchment, despite the availability of high-resolution atmospheric model data. With this in mind, we propose a new realm of water cycle modeling by coupling an integrated [...]
Reactions to Shining a Light on Science in the DarkWendy Parker(Durham University)
Are Climate Models Well Confirmed? And Why Would We Want to Know?Gregor Betz (Karlsruher Institute for Technology, Institute of Philosophy) video conference Abstract: At first glance, understanding the extent to which different climate models are empirically confirmed seems to be essential both for practical as well as scientific purposes. At second glance, however, things are much [...]
Steve Easterbrook (University of Toronto)Title: Constructive and External Validity for Climate ModelingDiscussion of validity of scientific computational models tend to treat “the model” as a unitary artifact, and ask questions about its fidelity with respect to observational data, and its predictive power with respect to future situations. For climate modeling, both of these questions are [...]
Nicolas Fillion (Simon Fraser University) Title: The Vindication of Computer Simulations The relatively recent increase in prominence of computer simulations in scientific inquiry has transformed both science and philosophy of science. In fact, a practical knowledge (a ‘know-how’) of scientific computation has become essential for scientists working in all disciplines involving mathematics. This [...]
Andrea Boyer (University of Western Ontario) Title: Effects of Simulated Recurrent Inclement Winter Weather on the Stress Response and Feeding Behaviour of White-throated Sparrows ( Zonotrichia albicollis ) Climate change has been linked to increasing frequency and severity of violent, unpredictable winter storms and other extreme weather events at nearly all latitudes. As climate change [...]
Brent Sinclair (University of Western Ontario) Title: Plasticity, Variability, Thresholds and Evolution: Why It’s So Hard to Model the Response of the ‘Average’ Insect to Climate Change Models of biological systems and their responses to climate change necessarily make assumptions about the biology of the organisms whose behaviour they seek to predict. In many [...]
Adrian Currie (University of Calgary)Title: Paleo-Climate & Future-ClimateUnderstanding the climate’s deep past is essential for understanding its future, however the nature of the paleoclimatological record is problematic. My aim in this paper is to get a conceptual handle on what paleoclimatology can offer climate projections, and what challenges this faces. Climate simulations are validated if [...]
25 October 2014 Laura Ballantyne-Brodie (New York University) Title: Earth System Ethics: A Proposal for a Systems Approach to Ethics The news has been delivered and we now understand with near certainty that the industrial economy is at odds with the physical systems of the planet.1 Shocks such as the credit crunch, [...]
Charlotte Werndl (LSE, University of Salzburg) Abstract: The aim of the paper is to provide a clear and thorough conceptual analysis of the main candidates for a definition of climate and climate change. Five desiderata on a definition of climate are presented: it should be empirically applicable, it should correctly classify different climates, it should not [...]
