Julian Schmitt

Julian Schmitt

Caltech PhD Candidate | Applied Math, Statistics & Climate | Nordic Skier

Aqua Alta: Venice - a city built on water

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Drafted:

This past spring, I worked on a fascinating project for Jerry X. Mitrovica’s EPS 261 course that combined cutting-edge sea level science with the historic city of Venice. Using state-of-the-art sea level fingerprinting techniques alongside topographical information, I assessed what Venice might face by 2100 under rising seas.

The project uses sea level fingerprinting techniques in combination with detailed topographical information on Venice to assess the risk posed by rising seas. The findings are sobering: we discovered that without intervention, by 2100 even a low-end sea level rise scenario will make what are currently decadal extremes an annual occurrence. Even more concerning, decadal extremes will match what we currently consider century-level disasters.

Venice’s unique position makes it particularly vulnerable to sea level changes, and this analysis helped quantify just how dramatic those changes could be. The combination of global sea level rise patterns and local topography creates a perfect storm for this historic city.

View the full project paper here.

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NSF Research Proposal

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I was awarded a 2023 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to fund my graduate studies. My research proposal combined my interests in drought, snow, and seismology. NSF GRFP Research Proposal.

Gap Semester

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I am taking Fall 2022 off from school to graduate on-cycle this spring. Current activities include thesis research, drafting a manuscript for the snow droughts study, exploring Vermont on foot, bike, and skis, and visiting friends.

Weston Ski Track Snowmaking Project

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This past spring, I was lucky enough to work on a mini project for Jim Stock alongside my friend James Kitch exploring how climate change was likely to impact our local Nordic ski center, the Weston Ski Track. As snowfall is inconsistent in the Boston area, the center relies on snowmaking equipment that uses high-pressure cannons to throw a compressed air and water mixture into the sky where it freezes as snow (if you’ve ever skied on manmade snow you know it’s not quite the same). Snowmaking equipment requires certain conditions to run, for example, it has to be cold enough to freeze water in the air but not too cold such that the snowmaking pipes freeze. The amount of moisture in the air places further constraints on when snow can be made and wind speed constraints on snowmaking equipment also warrant consideration. The project’s goal was to show that even with future climate projections, there would still be enough snowmaking hours to make Boston area skiing possible. These results helped lobby for additional funding to expand the snowmaking capacity at Weston.

Building Toy Dams: Modeling Stream Flow Around Obstacles

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A final project for Applied Math 205: Numerical Methods, this project was advised by Nick Derr and Chris Rycroft. Here, Chelsea Chen and I explore simulations of streamflow in a porous media with the twist of adding obstacles to see how the flow responds - we built a “castle” and watched streamflow erode around it!