Planet Water: Complexity and Organization in Earth Systems

Rafael L. Bras will deliver the 37th Annual James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award Lecture "Planet Water: Complexity and Organization in Earth Systems". His talk will explore some outcomes of the hydrologic complexity and organization with examples of over 30 years of work at MIT. Topics include the impact of soil moisture on the atmosphere and vice-versa, the impact of deforestation on the Amazon cloud climate, the self-organization of landscapes and river basins over very long time periods and the roles of vegetation on landscape evolution and in turn the role of the landscape on vegetation distribution.

About the Speaker: Professor Bras pioneered the field of hydrologic science and was a member of the MIT faculty for 32 years. In 2008 he moved to the University of California, Irvine, where he is currently the Dean of Engineering. Prof. Bras, who joined the MIT faculty shortly after earning his doctorate at MIT, served as head of the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory from 1983 to 1991, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 1992 to 2001, Associate Director of the Center for Global Change Science from 1990 to 2008, and chair of the MIT Faculty from 2003 to 2005.

MIT News: Bras wins faculty's Killian Award - May 27, 2008
MIT News: Bras eyes 'intertwined dance' of land, water, plants - March 31, 2009