Polar Statistical Physics

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Event Details
  • Date/Time:
    • Thursday November 21, 2019
      11:00 am - 11:50 am
  • Location: Ford Environmental, Science & Technology (ES&T) Building, Rm. L1205, 11am
  • Phone:
  • URL:
  • Email:
  • Fee(s):
    Free
  • Extras:
Contact

Alexander Robel

Summaries

Summary Sentence: A seminar by Dr. John Wettlaufer, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Full Summary: No summary paragraph submitted.

Media
  • John Wettlaufer John Wettlaufer
    (image/jpeg)

The School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Presents Dr. John Wettlaufer, Yale University

Polar Statistical Physics

We derive a generalized description of the Arctic sea ice thickness distribution (the pdf of ice thickness) using concepts from stochastic dynamics. The full problem can be forced by atmospheric and oceanic fluxes and produce the observed climatology of the ice pack through the numerical solution of a single Fokker-Planck equation (FPE). As such, it provides a far simpler framework for climate modeling than does the typical approach. 
 
Further insight is provided by analysis of the FPE.  For example, it can be cast in terms of a Bessel-like process described by an FPE with a logarithmic potential and solved by seeking solutions through an expansion into a complete set of eigenfunctions. 
 
The associated imaginary-time Schrödinger equation exhibits a mix of discrete and continuous eigenvalue spectra, corresponding to the quantum Coulomb potential describing the bound states of the hydrogen atom. We demonstrate this technique by solving the Brownian motion problem and the Bessel process both with a constant negative drift. The use of this approach allows one to study Earth’s polar climate using a single equation and/or two equations for each of the seasons.

Additional Information

In Campus Calendar
Yes
Groups

EAS

Invited Audience
Faculty/Staff, Postdoc, Graduate students, Undergraduate students
Categories
Seminar/Lecture/Colloquium
Keywords
EAS Seminar
Status
  • Created By: nlawson3
  • Workflow Status: Published
  • Created On: Sep 20, 2019 - 11:20am
  • Last Updated: Oct 31, 2019 - 3:38pm