About
The Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES) is a multi-disciplinary and independent research group. The aims of CERES are to address important issues in the fields of environmental and earth sciences. The group strives to foster original and timely scientific understanding, in addition to re-examining old analyses with fresh insights. We hope to illuminate, enhance, and resolve new and open issues.
We believe scientific research should be driven by curiosity and open-minded efforts to match experimental results with theoretical understanding
Our Mission
In recent years, the scientific community appears to have prioritized defining a "scientific consensus" on any scientific topic - especially politically-charged topics. We believe this obsession with "forming a consensus" contradicts the ethos of true scientific inquiry and open-ended scientific research.
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Instead, our approach to scientific research is driven by a deep curiosity to continually expand and revisit our understanding of important scientific topics.
History of the name Ceres
In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was the goddess of agriculture, fertility, grains, the harvest, motherhood, the earth, and cultivated crops.
She was often depicted carrying a sickle and/or a sheaf of wheat, as in the 18th century statuette on the left by Augustin Pajou.
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In 1801, the name Ceres was also given to a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
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We believe that the connections of society's interrelationship with Nature of the Roman goddess, as well as the more recent astronomical connection resonate with our center's interest in environmental research and Earth sciences. Hence, we have adopted CERES as our acronym.
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We note that NASA also uses CERES as an acronym for their Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) series of instruments on some of NASA's satellite missions.
Ongoing projects
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Temperature data homogenization; evaluating and correcting for non-climatic biases
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Using weather balloon data to study atmospheric behaviour
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Relationships between human-caused emissions and atmospheric concentrations of trace gases
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Sustainable aquaculture and water purification systems
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Why is climate change a partisan issue?
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Evaluating greenhouse gas emission scenarios
Future Areas of Interest
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Evaluating sea level trends
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Natural and human-caused factors affecting climate
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Assessing environmental impacts of renewable energy systems
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The development of energy efficient, low-cost heat pump systems
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Climate adaptation policies
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Orbital forcing and ENSO oscillations throughout the Holocene
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Paleo-climate proxies
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Educational approaches and platforms for promoting scientific and environmental awareness