Environmental Studies: Mathematical, Computational and Statistical Analyses

As we enter the final decade of the twentieth century, environmental protection has become a universal issue with world-wide support. Destruction of the stratospheric ozone-layer, global increase in carbon dioxide and other radiatively important trace gases, acid rain, urban smog water pollution of various types, and improper disposal of toxic wastes have all been shown as pressing problems for the 1990s. Environmental studies have now bridged the realms of academic research and societal applications. Mathematical modelling and large-scale data collection and analysis lie at the core of all environmental studies. Examples of such issues are the protection of the ozone- layer, climate change, regional and urban pollution, toxic waste disposal and water pollution. While each of these environmental problems involves extremely complex interplay of many physical, chemical and even human interactions, mathematical analysis serves as the single unifying foundation. Because of the well-recognized highly intensive and perturbing impact of direct environmental experiments, computational models become the prevalent tool in identifying, assessing and resolving these problems. Unfortunately, scientists, mathematicians, and engineers immersed in developing and applying environmental models, computational methods, statistical techniques and computational hardware advance with separate and often discordant paces. The Summer Program on Mathematical, Computational and Statistical Analyses in Environmental Studies was designed to provide a much needed interdisciplinary forum for joint exploration of recent advances in the formulation and application of A environmental models, B environmental data and data assimilation, C stochastic modeling and optimization, and D Global climate modeling.