Eric Marland, Chair of Math, Appalachian State University – Applied Math Seminar

Title: Valuing Uncertainty and Risk in Carbon Emissions and Climate Policy

Abstract: This talk will look at the role of uncertainty and risk in climate policy.  I will begin with the emissions side of carbon dynamics and some of our recent and current work related to NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System.  This work is related to the spatial distribution of carbon in the atmosphere and approaches to correlate land-based emissions data with remotely sensed observations.  I will then move to a brief discussion of the role of risk and uncertainty in comparing the emission and sequestration (uptake) of carbon.  This will then motivate a discussion of recent work with the US Forest Service which studies carbon offset programs such as the California Cap and Trade Program.  I will finish with some ideas for moving forward to the next stage of our research.