Earth doctor

Dick Peltier’s lab is the planet itself.

Dick Peltier doesn’t like mystery when it comes to Planet Earth.

The renowned physicist has spent the past 34 years learning the complex science behind virtually every physical force that governs our planet — from ancient ice ages to how oceans work. He has developed powerful models, using sophisticated mathematical concepts, to depict what has happened to our climate over the past 600 million years — and, based on that information, what is likely to happen far into the future if we don’t change our environmentally-damaging ways.

Those models are considered the gold standard for researchers trying to understand climate change.

His stunning achievements have been recognized with many of the top honours in his field — the 2004 Vetlesen Prize (among the most prestigious of international earth sciences awards), a Guggenheim Fellowship and the title University Professor — U of T’s highest academic honour.

No wonder then that Peltier was one of the lead authors of the influential fourth report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released this past February to international acclaim.

“My work is not about policy or social science or to recommend ‘what should we do about it?’ I leave that to specialists in those areas. My focus is the science of what’s going on.”

What is going on when it comes to climate change?

Peltier’s research on this front is well known — that humans are causing the climate to change primarily through greenhouse gas concentrations produced by automobiles and industry. But there is more to learn.

Peltier is quick to point out climate change scientists still face a number of “big unknowns. For example, there is a lot to learn about how clouds work in the environment and to what extent are they reflective of radiation from the sun.” And he wants to develop models that can more accurately predict what will happen to the ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic as the planet’s climate heats up.

True to form, Peltier is developing initiatives that will help to solve the remaining unknowns. One of them is his leadership in bringing new and very powerful high performance computing technology to U of T and the hospitals affiliated with the university. Peltier and colleagues in Toronto have formed a consortium called SciNet.The computing technology that will be acquired through the SciNet initiative (with support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Province of Ontario) will allow for the speedy manipulation and storage of extremely large datasets, facilitating research in climate change (and a host of other fields) that would otherwise be impossible.

“This equipment will enable us to simulate 250 years of climate history. To do that, it comes down to raw computer power.”

To delve even deeper into the mysteries of earth science, Peltier launched the Centre for Global Change Science in 2006. Through a variety of programs — a distinguished lecturer series and hands-on research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students — the centre is developing the next generation of earth science experts.

But Peltier notes the real key to understanding the science of our planet and its atmosphere is a multidisciplinary approach.“In climate change research, you have to look into everything — the clouds, the oceans, the atmosphere, the interior of the earth, solar energy. You simply can’t work in a silo. Physicists, chemists and biologists all can and need to contribute. That’s how we have come this far in our understanding of what is happening in climate change and that’s how we will take the next crucial steps.”