Mackay Minutes 2016/07/14

MacKay website, and minutes

How did we do on our todo list?

• Andy is at his family reunion, but wants to talk about climate change.

• Laura
  • continues to work on the "factors" of the rank-two and rank-three approximations

• Madison
  • was going to assemble the (complete) data into a csv file
    • got those....
    • what do we do with the combined regions, for several years?

• Steve
  • is in Japan, or on his way there! Hooray!

The Readings

I suggested that we try to get caught up to the Charney report (1979) for a discussion of climate change.

Today we might play "you meet a denier...." Let's recap how a rational person might talk to a person who doesn't believe that human-caused (anthropogenic) climate change is happening.

What historical references and evidence might we give? Not that evidence and facts will change minds, by the way. But let us prepare to use them, nonetheless.

Moving forward

• Climate and first appearance: what is our model?
  • Do atmospheric temp and precipitation constitute "climate"? How about ocean currents?
  • Soil temperature as a function of climate -- we've got a model to start with (Chang, et al.).
  • One of our "In the News" items suggests the importance of light (even artificial light).
• Can we use the rank one/two/three versions of our five favorite species, to reduce noise? We create one new variable from the top five, and follow it through time and space....

Todo for next week

• All (except Steve!)
  • Read Charney report and Fleming paper on Croll for next time.

• Andy
  • Continue working on ST modeling, using additional species and locations (i.e. requiring more climate data from Laura)

• Laura
  • Examine each individual singular vector for correlation with lat/long
  • Lead a discussion of Archer, chapter 3 (in two weeks)?

• Madison
  • Lead a discussion of Archer, chapter 4 (in three weeks)?
  • Find out about ocean currents around Nova Scotia
  • Investigate the data sets where the 9th and 10th regions were combined. How do we deal with that across the years?

• Steve
  • In Japan until the end of July

Next meeting

Thursday, 7/21, noon?

Sandbox

THIS IS WRONG (obviously)... but I'm working on it