Award details

Paradigms for modelling environmental systems

Reference	BBS/E/C/00004170
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Andrew Whitmore
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	371,343
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1999
End date	31/03/2004
Duration	60 months

Abstract

Computer models are used increasingly to facilitate decisions by planners and policy-makers. Quality and reliability are therefore essential, and part of this project is concerned with model testing. Non-linearity in a model means simply that, if you run the model for a series of input values and plot the resulting output values against the input ones, you do not get a straight line. This sounds innocuous, but it can cause problems, notably that non-linearity in the model can interact with error (in the statistical sense of variability) in the input in a way that can lead to a misleading result. Some simple tests have been developed to help model users avoid problems of this kind. Measurements made on small areas of land and models developed at this scale often have to be used to assess processes happening over large areas of land. For this, we need to understand the changes with distance in the processes and the factors controlling them. This is being done in collaboration with Silsoe Research Institute for emissions of the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide. Another aspect of this problem covered by this project is the phenomenon of decoherence which suggests that large areas of land should behave in a more determinate and therefore predictable way than small volumes of soil. New approaches to modelling being investigated include ideas from Chaos Theory and Complexity Theory.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

I accept the terms and conditions of use (opens in new window)

export PDF file

back to list new search