Modeling the earth's climate

Abstract

Mathematical models of the earth's climate provide intriguing opportunities to study a wide range of interdisciplinary problems involving processes within the climate system in a controlled and systematic manner. This paper is intended as a nontechnical review of climate modeling to enable researchers who are unfamiliar with the topic to better evaluate and judge the credibility of the model results. The types of climate models available for climate research are reviewed here, and four broad categories of climate models are identified. These range from the more simple energy balance models (EBMs) and radiative-convective models (RCMs), to the more complex statistical-dynamical models (SDMs), to the most powerful tools yet available for studying climate, the general circulation models (GCMs). This last category includes gridpoint and spectral GCMs. Four representations of the oceans which can be coupled to GCMs are described and include prescribed sea surface temperatures, an energy balance or ‘swamp’ ocean, a mixed layer or ‘slab’ ocean, or a fully computed ocean general circulation model. Selected examples considered representative of the types of studies possible with the various classes of models are given. Taken together, the spectrum of climate models provides a hierarchy of learning and research tools with which to effectively study the extremes of past climates, the vagaries of present-day climate, and possible climatic fluctuations well into the future.