Computational Methods for the Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences
Motivation
Modern mathematical and quantitative methods in the Earth Sciences require an increasingly strong computational component. The Earth and Environmental sciences are rich in computational research and applications. Past IAMG conferences have mainly focussed on methodologies or case studies, less so on the computational aspects. The increased computational complexity of our problems has forced computer scientists, both hardware and software, to come together with the Earth & Environmental Sciences community to tackle new computational challenges. For example, Stanford University has started, in collaboration with Sun Microsystems Inc., a new center for interdisciplinary research effort designed to tackle critical questions about Earth processes, natural & energy resources and the environment. Ideally, this will foster an integration of Earth science with computer science, each driving development of the other. The computational capacity and the availability of large volumes of data from a variety of data sources offer new challenges in modeling various components of the Earth, whether this concerns the modeling of an aquifer or the process-simulation of a large sedimentary basin as well as the human activities that interact with these Earth processes.
Another keyword in the conference title, less common to IAMG conferences, is in Energy. The supply of sustainable energy will be the most important challenge ahead for our society in this century. In some form or another we believe that IAMG needs to and can make an important contribution in the measuring, modelling and assessment of non-hydrocarbon based or non-conventional subsurface energy resources. We would like to showcase with a special session the various modelling and computational aspects this requires.