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SUMMARY:Simulating global carbon-climate feedback - Drew Purves (Microsoft
  Research)
DTSTART:20100630T141500Z
DTEND:20100630T151500Z
UID:TALK25225@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Fabien Petitcolas
DESCRIPTION:*Abstract*: We will provide an overview of the global carbon c
 ycle and its potential roles in accelerating or mitigating historic and fu
 ture climate change—and introduce a carbon-climate modeling system devel
 oped recently at Microsoft Research Cambridge. We will begin with a global
  summary of current natural and anthropogenic sources and sinks of carbon\
 , explaining the methods scientists have used to estimate these numbers. N
 ext\, we will consider the scientific challenge of predicting the future o
 f these sources and sinks\, both in terms of the biological and socioecono
 mic processes that must be considered and in terms of the model structures
 \, data sources\, statistical machinery\, and computational power—and\, 
 therefore\, the novel software tools—needed to make the predictions more
  reliable. Key issues will be illustrated—and new predictions about the 
 carbon cycle made—using the new carbon-climate modeling system\, one ins
 tantiation of which can be seen in a related TechFest demo\, Understanding
  and Preserving Life-Support Systems.\n\n*Biography*: Drew Purves is a com
 putational ecologist in the Computational Sciences Lab at Microsoft Resear
 ch in Cambridge. Purves studied and researched at Cambridge\, York\, and P
 rinceton before joining Microsoft Research in 2007. His research focuses o
 n populations and communities of plants\, especially forests\, and has led
  to about 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals\, including “Science
 \,” “PNAS\,” and “Proc Roy Soc B.”
LOCATION:Large public lecture room\, Microsoft Research\, Roger Needham Bu
 ilding\, 7 J J Thomson Avenue\, Cambridge CB3 0FB
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