So, as NAU classes were\nwinding down this spring, Luo and his research group were powering up a high-intensity,\ntwo-week training course on carbon cycle modeling. More than 30 trainees from Finland, Denmark,\nBelgium, China, South Korea and Canada traveled to Flagstaff to learn new\nmodeling skills in Luo\u2019s course: \u201cNew Advances in Land Carbon Cycle Modeling.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The short course, now in\nits second year, expanded to cover two new topics: ecological forecasting and\ndata assimilation. Luo said his group expanded into these areas in order to\nmake the course more useful for trainees working to improve their models\u2019 predictions.\nAnd he was surprised by the response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe trainees learned these\nnew modeling skills much faster than we expected,\u201d Luo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the modeling world,\nautomated data assimilation is a gamechanger. Traditionally, a modeler would\nlook at their modeling results, turn a few parameters, run the model again and\nhope it works. Rinse, repeat. With a system as complex as the global carbon\ncycle, this process can take a long time, assuming it\u2019s even possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But with data\nassimilation, a model talks to a dataset automatically, runs and then feeds\nback to the data source gaps or needs for different variables in something much\ncloser to real time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The course itself was a\ncollaborative effort: nearly 30 scientists, including faculty, staff and\ngraduate student researchers from Ecoss and the School of Informatics,\nComputing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS) led hands-on practicums and lectures for\nthe trainees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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After the first two days,\nthe trainees were already making major gains. With a carbon flow diagram, which\ndepicts how carbon moves from one pool to another in an ecosystem, they\nconverted six models into matrix models each in less than 10 minutes. And in a\nfield where model \u201cspin-up\u201d can take days, that\u2019s a big deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen ecology meets math,\nyou get the matrix model,\u201d said Ecoss researcher Lifen Jiang<\/strong>, who organized the course with Luo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe matrix approach is\nmathematical magic,\u201d said Bruce Hungate<\/strong>,\nwho directs Ecoss and worked with this year\u2019s class of modelers. \u201cIt makes\nrunning a model simpler, faster, better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luo is excited about the\nways that the course and its emphasis on collaborative learning are already\nyielding results beyond the classroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the first week, a subgroup of trainees decided to work together on collaborative projects using the techniques they learned here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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