astronomy

Mark Cane

Mark Cane is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mark Cane rather than just read about it. In short: Mark A. Cane is an American climate scientist.

Key takeaways

Mark Cane belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mark Cane to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mark Cane from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mark A. Cane is an American climate scientist. He obtained his PhD at MIT in 1975. He is currently the G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences at Columbia University and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. He actively pursues several research and teaching initiatives, and supports the Columbia climate kids corner [1]. As of November 11, 2015, his publications have been cited over 22,600 times, and he has an h-index of 75. He was involved in the first numerical prediction of El Niño-Southern Oscillation in 1986.

Education Mark Cane was the Valedictorian of the June 1961 graduation class of Midwood High School. He went on to study in Boston, receiving a A.B. in Applied Mathematics in 1965. He went on to do graduate work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving his Ph.D. in Meteorology in just three years under the guidance of thesis advisor Jule Charney. He continued post-doctoral work at M.I.T., becoming a member of the group of ground-breaking earth scientists who referred to themselves as "the 14th floor".

Selected publications Zebiak, S.E. & M.A. Cane (1987). "A Model El Niño–Southern Oscillation". Mon. Wea. Rev. 115 (10): 2262–2278. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1987)115<2262:AMENO>2.0.CO;2.

Selected awards 2017 Vetlesen Prize 2015 The Oceanography Society Member 2013 National Academy of Sciences Member 2013 Maurice Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union 2009 Norbert Gerbier-MUMM International Award from the World Meteorological Organization 2007 California Department of Water Resources – Climate Science paper award 2004–2007 Earth and Planetary Science Letters Most Cited Paper 2003 Bronze Award for Magazines Feature Article, 25,001 to 100,000 to “American Scientist “Ethnoclimatology in the Andes” 2003 Cody Award in Ocean Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography 2002 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow 1995 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow 1995 American Geophysical Union Fellow 1993 Fellow, American Meteorological Society 1992 Sverdrup Medal of the American Meteorological Society 1984–1986 National Science Foundation Creativity Award

References

External links Text about Cane at the Earth Institute of Columbia University Mark Cane, George Philander, Win 2017 Vetlesen Prize http://climateandlife.columbia.edu/2017/01/26/mark-cane-george-philander-win-2017-vetlesen-prize/

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mark Cane

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mark Cane claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mark Cane before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mark Cane ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mark Cane

In research: Mark Cane appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mark Cane in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mark Cane is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American climatologists, American scientist stubs, Atmospheric scientist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mark Cane outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mark Cane in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mark Cane means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mark Cane out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mark Cane in simple terms?

Mark A. Cane is an American climate scientist.

Why does Mark Cane matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mark Cane?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mark Cane.