Coastal Carolina University physics professor Varavut Limpasuvan will give a talk titled “Something’s in the Air: Global Climate Changes and You,” about new climate research aimed at improving weather prediction and achieving a better understanding of our climate system. < The event, which is free and open to the public, will be given at the following locations:

• Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. at Coastal’s Edward College of Humanities, room 253

• Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at the North Myrtle Beach Recreation Center

• Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Waccamaw Higher Education Center, Litchfield

• Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Loris Center for Health and Fitness

Funded by the National Science Foundation, Limpasuvan’s research, which focuses on the relationship between fluctuations in climate patterns and conditions at high altitudes (above 15 km), is intended to help improve mid-range weather forecasting and shed new light on the way we think about the climate system.

“As it stands now, it’s difficult to make accurate forecasts beyond a week,” says Limpasuvan. “We hope to provide some clues that may improve our forecasting skills by examining the atmosphere as a whole instead of just the region near the surface.”

Limpasuvan is working in collaboration with Coastal undergraduates and scientists at the California Institute of Technology, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the University of Washington. He will spend the spring 2005 semester working on the project at JPL in Pasadena, Calif.

Limpasuvan joined the Coastal faculty in 2000. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering and applied science from California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington. He did post-doctoral research work at the Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean in Seattle. He was Coastal’s teacher of the Year for 2000-2001.

This public discussion is one of a series of 50 such events planned during 2004-2005 by Coastal’s College of Natural and Applied Sciences to commemorate Coastal’s 50th anniversary. For more information, call 349-2202.