Modelling the Earth’s Climate
Computer models are an essential tool for researchers to understand the Earth’s climate. They help to understand climate in the past as well as to project climate in the future. There are various types of climate models depending what researchers are interested in. Some climate models cover only a specific area of the globe whereas others simulate processes in the atmosphere, oceans, ice and land masses of the entire planet.
Climate modelling has many similarities to weather forecasting. The profound difference is that climate models focus on longer time scales such as decades rather than hours and days.
The Climate Science Communications Group (CSCG) released a briefing paper (issue 6) introducing the readers to the fundamentals of climate modelling. The paper covers the definition of a climate model, how they are run, how scientists use them to understand the climate and how accurate they are.
Podcast Episode 13 - Climate Modelling: Interview with John Mitchell
The Society invited Professor John Mitchell for an interview about Climate Modelling. John is a Principal Research Fellow at the Met Office with 30 years of research experience on climate change.
