Did you know there is a little-understood “wave” just above the Earth’s atmosphere that plays a big role in determining planetwide weather patterns? Or that in about 3.3 billion years the planet could collide with Venus or Mars? Or that Guinea Worm Disease is on the verge of being the first parasitic disease in the world to be eradicated, and without a medicinal cure?
Even if you don’t know these things, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that mathematics plays a key role in human understanding of these – and many other complicated questions that affect everyone on Earth.
That’s why, after months of organizational efforts, hundreds of international mathematicians, institutions, societies and other groups are gathering in San Diego this week for a conference to organize their efforts to promote that understanding.
One of those attending is San Martin resident Brian Conrey, executive director of the American Institute of Mathematics, one of the lead organizers of the conference and ongoing effort known as Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013, or MPE2013.
The “unusual” effort to get so many mathematicians working together has several goals, one of which is to “get the math community behind” the multi-faceted, ongoing attempt to apply math to the problems of climate change and weather patterns, the spread of epidemics, shifts in the solar system that are billions of years away, and even more man-made systems such as the economics of renewable resources, environmental finance and the commodities trade.
MPE2013 is born from “mathematical community to learn more about the challenges faced by our planet and the underlying mathematical problems, and to increase the research effort on these issues,” reads the intro to the program’s website, mpe2013.org.
Those challenges have appeared recently in the form of specific events, such as a growing population competing for the world’s natural resources, increased frequency of dramatic weather events, and signs that long-term climate change is persisting.
Conrey speaks excitedly about MPE2013, which brings more than 120 math organizations together from all over the world.
They will be developing ideas and models for seemingly esoteric topics that, when understood, will simplify complex systems even for those who are not mathematically inclined, Conrey explained.
“We want to educate the general public about what math can do,” Conrey said. “With epidemics (for example), you need to know how best to inoculate the population, which is basically a math question.”
Another little-known characteristic of Earth – the understanding of which could become crucial to better understanding of the planet – is the occurrence of a vapor wave in the atmosphere, just above the Tropics, that “basically controls a lot of the weather,” Conrey explained. Mathematicians are currently working on a model of the wave, known as the Madden-Julian oscillation or MJO, in order to identify exactly how it influences the weather and climates.
“It’s not accounted for in weather models,” Conrey said. “It’s not understood well enough. So we’re looking at weather in a different way, on a different scale, that hopefully will be more accurate.”
MPE2013 is wrapping up its stateside kickoff conference in San Diego this week, but the efforts are ongoing with conferences, workshops, lectures and other gatherings scheduled for the coming months.
Most of the MPE2013 events are designed for mathematicians, physicists and other experts with advanced technical knowledge of the topics. But some are geared toward the general public and students.
For a full schedule of MPE2013 events, or more information and resources (most of it readable to the layman) about the many topics to be addressed by the initiative, visit www.mpe2013.org.
