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Research Overview
Global and
Regional Climate
Modeling focused on the Land-Surface
Processes and the Application of Terrestrial
Remote Sensing; Interaction of Terrestrial, Radiative and Hydrological Processes with
Subgrid Scaling
Dr. Robert
E. Dickinson has been contributing to the
fields of climate modeling and global change
research for over 40 years. Shortly after
receiving his Ph.D. in 1966, he joined the
staff of NCAR (National Center for
Atmospheric Research). In 1975, he became
Head of the Climate Section and in 1981,
Deputy Director of the Climate and Global
Dynamics Division. During 1990-1999, Dr.
Dickinson was Regents Professor at the
University of Arizona in Tucson, where he
held joint appointments in the Department of
Atmospheric Sciences, the Institute of
Atmospheric Physics, the Department of
Hydrology and Water Resources, and the
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. He has
been active in committees, panels, and
working groups of the NRC, IGBP, WCRP, and
IPCC, and is a member of both the National
Academy of Sciences and the National Academy
of Engineering. Dr. Dickinson joined the
Georgia Tech faculty at the school of Earth
and Atmospheric Sciences in September 1999.
His current research aims to improve the
understanding of global and regional climate
and earth system through the modeling of
land, vegetation and radiative processes.
Terrestrial processes are an important
component of the climate and earth system.
Climate can be viewed as a nonlinear
dynamical system which generates statistics
to be compared with observational
statistics. The surface is forced by net
radiation balanced by sensible and latent
fluxes, and by precipitation balanced by
evapotranspiration, soil moisture storage,
and runoff. These balances depend on
detailed geographic descriptions of
parameters which are constrained by
satellite remote sensing with consequent
substantial improvement in climate models.
Some of the parameters, especially those
involving vegetation, may be evolved with
the climate system. When climate models
characterize their radiative processes
consistent with the remote sensing
algorithms useful for their detection, they
become physically more realistic and provide
a suitable modeling framework for forward
modeling data assimilation. Therefore,
radiative connections between canopy and
understory surfaces must be included, a
connection that requires modifications of
the current ways in which remote sensing
data is included in models. See Dr.
Dickinson's recent book chapter "Application
of Terrestrial Remote Sensing to Climate
Modeling" for details.
Our group have been focusing on the
improvement in the understanding and
modeling of terrestrial system by combining
model improvement with application of the
latest relevant remote sensing products.
Because of the interdisciplinary nature of
this scientific research area, we actively
collaborate with many other scientists and
institutions in the US and abroad. In
particular, we have strongly participated in
the development and applications of the
Community Climate System Model (CCSM).
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Research Projects
Active Grants
Expired
Grants
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Land Models
A. The
Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS):
B. The Common
Land Model (CoLM):
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Dickinson's Research Group
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of
Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0340
Last Updated: September 2007 |
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