Special session in memory of Prof. Albert Tarantola (by invitation only):

Can our models only predict the irrelevant?
Chairs: Daniel Rothman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) and Augusto Neri (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Italy)

This symposium will address the controversial issue of the use and effectiveness of mathematical models in predicting environmental phenomena.

Planned sessions

1. Geophysical fluid dynamics I - Volcanoes
   Conveners: Giovanni Macedonio (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Italy) and Michael Manga (University of California, USA)
   
   
2. Geophysical fluid dynamics II - Sub-surface and surface flows
   Conveners: Einat Aharonov (Hebrew University, Israel) and Daniel Schertzer (École des Ponts ParisTech, France)
   
   
3. Geophysical fluid dynamics III - Atmosphere and ocean
   Conveners: Claudia Pasquero (University of California, USA) and Dick Peltier (University of Toronto, Canada)
   
   
4. Brittle deformation and computational seismology
   Conveners: Yehoda Ben-Zion (University of Southern California, USA) and Massimo Cocco (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Italy)
   
   
5. Geodynamics and geomagnetism
   Conveners: Matthias Holschneider (University of Potsdam, Germany) and Mioara Mandea (Geo Forschungs Zentrum, Germany)
   
   
6. Environmental systems and climate
   Conveners: Daniel Rothman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) and Eli Tziperman (Harvard University, USA)
   
   
7. Quantifying the uncertainty in Earth Systems
   Conveners: Willy Aspinall (University of Bristol, UK) and Gordon Woo (Risk Management Solutions, UK)
   
   
8. Data assimilation and model validation
   Conveners: George Bergantz (University of Washington, USA) and Alik Ismail-Zadeh (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
   
   
9. Computational geophysics: modern algorithms and applications
   Conveners: Marc Spiegelman (Columbia University, USA) and Dave Yuen (University of Minnesota, USA)

Both oral and poster presentations will be accepted for scientific sessions at CMG2010. Oral presentations will last 20 minutes (15 minutes for the presentation plus 5 minutes for questions). In each session a 30-min keynote talk is scheduled. The detailed Conference Program and schedule will be available by 15 April 2010.

Preliminary list of invited speakers

Victor Brovkin (Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology, Germany)
Michel Campillo (Université Joseph Fourier, France)
Maarten De Hoop (Purdue University, USA)
Josef Dufek (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
Annette Eicker (University of Bonn, Germany)
Natasha Flyer (National Center for Atmospheric Research, USA)
Alexandre Fournier (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France)
Hiner Igel (Munich University, Germany)
Vladimir Lyakhovsky (Geological Survey of Israel, Israel)
Warner Marzocchi (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Italy)
Isabel Panet (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France)
Orrin Pilkey (Duke University, USA)
Christian Schoof (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Jean-Pierre Vilotte (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France)
Geoff Vallis (Princeton University, USA)
Olivier Talagrand (Ecole Normale Superieure, France)
Johannes Wicht (Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany)