Introduction. Progress in Earth science and climate studies

• Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
• Main Author: Thompson, J. Michael T
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 2008
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2008.0215; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2008.0215; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsta.2008.0215

In this introductory paper, I review the ‘visions of the future’ articles prepared by top young scientists for the second of the two Christmas 2008 Triennial Issues of Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A , devoted respectively to astronomy and Earth science. Topics covered in the Earth science issue include: trace gases in the atmosphere; dynamics of the Antarctic circumpolar current; a study of the boundary between the Earth's rocky mantle and its iron core; and two studies of volcanoes and their plumes. A final section devoted to ecology and climate covers: the mathematical modelling of plant–soil interactions; the effects of the boreal forests on the Earth's climate; the role of the past palaeoclimate in testing and calibrating today's numerical climate models; and the evaluation of these models including the quantification of their uncertainties.