Maria Meirelles

University of the Azores,Portugal

Title: What the Atmospheric Models Can Tell Us About Climate Change - Decisions About the Path of Energy Consumption

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Biography

Maria Gabriela Meirelles has a Diploma in Physics from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brasil in 1992, a Geophysics Master in the field of Meteorology from University of Lisbon (Faculty of Sciences), Portugal in 1997 and got her PhD in Physics from the Azores University (UAC), Portugal in 2009, in the field of Geophysical Sciences. Her teaching activities include topics on meteorology/atmosphere/climatology, general physics, physics for biology and geophysics, among others, for undergraduate and master studies. She has participated in several scientific conferences and she has published several research articles.

Abstract

The future state of the atmosphere is projected by atmospheric numerical models, based on thermodynamic and hydrodynamic equations. The atmosphere is a complex system, for which atmospheric weather and climate prediction models describe the general behavior of the troposphere and stratosphere, from initial conditions of the state of the atmosphere and surface boundary conditions (land or ocean). Some physical processes occur at a smaller scale than the model, so they cannot be calculated explicitly and need to be represented in a way that the model scale can resolve; parameterization of physical processes. Each physical process is represented by equations that indicate the parameterizations.Anthropogenic climate change is one of the greatest threats to human prosperity. As part of efforts to identify and enact appropriate strategies to mitigate or even reverse its impacts, a global scientific effort is under way to better understand and propose solutions. The En-ROADS Simulator is a system dynamics model carefully grounded in the best available science, and has been calibrated against a wide range of existing integrated assessment, climate, and energy models. With this simulator users can test sustainable solutions for Earth planet.