Theoretical Physics Colloquium: Dr. Albertus Sulaiman Discusses Earth’s Climate and Atmosphere as a Complex System

Makassar, October 22, 2025 — The Theoretical Physics Research Group, Department of Physics, Universitas Hasanuddin, held another session of its Theoretical Physics Colloquium on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, at the Theoretical Physics Laboratory.

The event featured Dr. Albertus Sulaiman, a researcher at the Research Center for Climate and Atmosphere, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), who delivered a presentation entitled: “Earth Climate and Atmosphere as a Complex System.”

In his talk, Dr. Sulaiman explored how the Earth’s climate and atmosphere can be understood as a complex system, governed by nonlinear interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, and radiative energy balance. He began by introducing the basic theory of environmental physics, followed by discussions on simple cases such as equatorial waves and equatorial dynamics, which play a key role in tropical weather systems.

The presentation continued with an explanation of atmospheric convection, the solution of the Lorenz equations as a simplified model of chaotic atmospheric behavior, and sea breeze calculations relevant to local coastal dynamics.
Dr. Albertus Sulaiman also presented insights on ocean extreme waves, introducing the Pelinosky equation, which describes extreme wave phenomena in coastal waters.

Through these examples, he demonstrated how mathematical equations and physical models can be applied to study the highly interconnected and dynamic nature of Earth’s environmental systems.

At the end of the session, Dr. Albertus Sulaiman invited students and lecturers to participate in an online internship program at BRIN, particularly in the fields of atmospheric physics and climate dynamics research.