Welcome to MCRN

Linking researchers across the US to develop the mathematics needed to better understand the Earth's climate

MCRN is a virtual organization that brings together leading researchers across the US to study the mathematics that underlies climate science. For essentially every question asked in climate science, a mathematical model is the vehicle for extrapolating into the future. MCRN, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, fosters research in climate process modeling, dynamics of climate, and data analysis and assimilation.

Research Highlights

Snowball Earth Events

Dorian Abbot studies snowball Earth events that occurred 450 and 600 million years ago using simple climate models. His solution depicts a tropical belt of open ocean which may have prevailed during these periods of extereme glaciation and thus enabled life to continue evolving on the planet.

Data assimilation and shadowing in the atmosphere

Chris Danforth and his team are attempting to develop new methods for increasing the length of time for which a numerical model will have solutions which shadow (remain close) the observations we make of the physical system.