General Information
Chapman Conference on Fractal Scaling, Non-linear Dynamics and Chaos in Hydrologic Systems
Madren Continuing Education Center, Clemson University
Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina
May 12-15, 1998
(Tuesday through Friday)
Upmanu Lall, Utah State University
Program Committee
Shaun Lovejoy, McGill University
Fred J. Molz, Clemson University
Shlomo Neuman, University of Arizona
Evan Paleologos, University of South Carolina
Karen Prestegaard, University of Maryland
Hari Rajaram, University of Colorado
Ignacio Rodriquez-Iturbe, Texas A&M University
Dave Rubin, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
Ed Waymire, Oregon State University
Upmanu Lall, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah Water Research Laboratory, UMC 82, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, Phone: 801-797-3184, Fax: 801-797-3363
Organizing Committee
Shaun Lovejoy, Physics Department, McGill University, 3600 University Street, Montreal, QUE, Canada H3A 2T8, Phone: 514-398-6537, Fax: 514-398-8484
Fred J. Molz, ESE Department, Clemson University, 342 Computer Court, Anderson, SC 29625, Phone: 864-656-1003, Fax: 864-656-0672
Shlomo P. Neuman, Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, Phone: 520-621-7114, Fax: 520-621-1422
Evan Paleologos, Department of Geological Science, 701 Sumpter Street, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, Phone: 803-777-8125, Fax: 803-777-6610
Karen L. Prestegaard, Department of Geology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, Phone: 301-405-6982, Fax: 301-314-9661
Hari Rajaram, Civil Engineering Department, University of Colorado, Campus Box 428, Boulder, CO 80309, Phone: 303-492-6604, Fax: 303-492-7317
Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe, Civil Engineering Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, Phone: 409-845-7435, Fax: 409-845-6156
David M. Rubin, U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, MS 999, Menlo Park, CA 94025, Phone: 415-354-3060, Fax: 415-354-3191
Ed Waymire, Mathematics Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, Phone: 503-737-5186, Fax: 503-737-0517
This conference is intended to be on the cutting edge of research and development relating to all types of hydrologic processes in natural systems. When possible, the underlying physics and mathematical concepts will be emphasized. The purpose of the conference is to bring together the
Conference Scope
leading researchers working on fractal scaling, non-linear dynamics, and self-organization, many of whom are in different sub-disciplines. Participants are expected to leave the conference with a greatly expanded vision concerning scaling-fractal, multifractals, nonlinear dynamics and chaos in hydrologic systems. Both theoretical and applied aspects will be emphasized, which will help participants to make the distinction between what we can do now and where we might be going. Hopefully, some insights will arise concerning the connection(s) between fractals and self-organized, nonlinear, dynamical systems, with resulting implications for the origin of sediments and sedimentary rock. Since virtually all atmospheric, surface and subsurface hydrologic processes involve interacting nonlinear components, the conference should encourage the development of a highly interdisciplinary perspective. Graduate students should come away with an enhanced appreciation for both the simplicity and complexity of non-linear dynamical processes and a perception of the benefits of an interdisciplinary approach tounderstanding the structure and dynamics of natural hydrologic processes.
Natural systems, including porous media, surface water systems, climate/precipitation and sedimentation processes are characterized by pervasive heterogeneity and a great deal of non-linearity in the varied physical, chemical and biological phenomena that take place. Traditional scientific and engineering approaches using the classical equations of engineering and science based on smooth property variations and linear concepts or approximations appear to have reached the limit of their ability to serve as predictive tools and tools of deeper understanding. Something new and more general is needed in order to break out of the current box and increase our understanding of such practical things as contaminant transport, surface water dynamics, precipitation distributions, aquifer structure and property distributions, surface drainage distributions, surface topography, wetland chemical and biological dynamics, the dynamics of climate change, bioremediation and numerous other phenomena. Is a potential basis for such an increase in understanding on the horizon? The answer may lie in the rapidly developing, inter-related topics, of non-linear dynamics, chaos and fractals.
In the broad area of hydrology, the practical appeal of non-linear dynamics and fractals is that the physics and mathematics involved appear to provide a robust and natural approach for dealing with heterogeneity and non-linear processes which characterize natural systems such as hydrologic systems. The approach is natural because only a few parameters are involved, and it is robust because the parameters can be measured and are well defined. The main problem is in understanding the new concepts, not in the computational difficulty of their application. In dealing with subsurface characterization and the migration of contaminants, it is accepted that representing heterogeneity is the key issue. It is now realized that subsurface property variations occur on all scales of measurement and that measurements on one scale do not relate simply to measurements on another [Molz, et al., 1989; Molz and Boman, 1995]. Similarily, atmospheric rain processes are highly turbulent down to the smallest relevant (interdrop) scales. In both cases, the irregular nature of the phenomenia, combined with a (typicaly) large number of degrees of freedom, makes stockastic models attractives. When the underlying dynamics has no characteristic length over a significant range of scales, the result is a multifractal field with a hierarchy of scale-invariant fractal structures that display non-classical statistical properties, including long range statistical dependence and long-tailed probability distributions.
Deterministic chaotic processes--often used for modeling systems in which only a few degrees of freedom are important--also give rise to fractal sets and multifractal densities, but these are typically in abstract phase spaces, the so-called strange attractors. Also boundaries in these spaces separating various types of non-linear behavior may be fractal, and self-organizing processes may yield fractal structures. Whether or not the underlying dynamics involve large or small numbers of degrees of freedom, one may surmise that they are often scale invariant over various ranges. Exactly how they operate would be worth knowing and is likely to have important practical consequences [Rodriguez-Iturbe et al., 1992]. This question would constitute one of the more theoretical aspects of the proposed conference, and partial answers would provide guidance for future research.
The conference will be composed of invited speakers and volunteered presentations in both an oral and poster format. We expect to have two speakers from outside the field of hydrology. One will be a fractal artist, Dr. F. Kenton Musgrave, who will make a presentation at the conference banquet that will be entertaining as well as informative. The other will be a physicist or mathematician able to provide insight into where the field of self-organization and non-linear dynamics is going in a very general sense. The organizers will try to attract presentations that explain and illuminate the underlying concepts and unity of the various topics so that the conference will appeal to a broad variety of participants with various levels of expertise in non-linear science and fractal scaling.
Conference Format
Funding is available to provide partial support for students attending the meeting. Application forms for travel support can be obtained from the AGU Meetings Department (Phone: 202-462-6910 or 800-966-2481; Fax: 202-328-0566).
Travel Support
The deadline for receipt of travel applications is January 16, 1998. Awardees will be selected by the conveners.
A camera-ready original and two copies of all abstracts must be submitted in standard AGU abstract format to the following address:
Abstract Deadline: January 16, 1998
AGU Meetings Department
Fractal Scaling Chapman Conference
2000 Florida Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Complete registration and housing information will be available on March 18, 1998.
Preregistration Deadline: April 5, 1998
Future information pertaining to this conference (e.g., scientific program, housing, registration) will be sent to those who have either submitted an abstract or have asked to be placed on the mailing list.
For More Information
Those not submitting abstracts who wish to be placed on the mailing list, please contact:
AGU Meetings Department
Fractal Scaling Chapman Conference
2000 Florida Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 202-462-6910 or 800-966-2481
Fax: 202-328-0566
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