What’s in a global climate model? The Community Climate System Model (CCSM version 3) that is run with the supercomputer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research incorporates data about all of the natural processes shown in this diagram to simulate Earth’s complex climate system. Click on image for full size (170 Kb) UCAR

Global climate models (GCMs) use mathematical equations to describe the behavior of factors that impact climate. These factors include dymanics of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, living things, sea ice, and energy from the Sun. Thousands of climate researchers use global climate models to better understand the long-term effects of global changes such as increasing greenhouses gases or decreasing Arctic sea ice. The models are used to simulate conditions over hundreds of years, so that we can predict how our planet’s climate will likely change.

There are various types of climate models. Some are based specifically on certain components that affect climate such as the atmosphere or the oceans. Models that look at few variables of the climate system may be simple enough to run on a personal computer. Others attempt to integrate many factors of the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere to model the entire Earth system, including the interactions and feedbacks between systems. Many of these complex models are so elaborate that they must be run on supercomputers. All climate models must make some assumptions about how the Earth works, but in general, the more complex a model, the more factors it takes into account, and the fewer assumptions it makes. At the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), researchers run complex models of the Earth's climate system that include atmosphere, oceans, land, and cryosphere, and associated biogeochemistry and ecology. Their highly-complex Community Climate System Model is so complex that it requires about three trillion computer calculations to simulate a single day of global climate. It can take thousands of hours for the supercomputer to run the model. The model output, typically many gigabytes large, is analyzed by researchers and compared with other model results and with observations and measurement data.

There are currently several other complex global climate models that are used to predict future climatic change. The most robust models are compared by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) as they summarize predictions about future climate change.

What’s in a global climate model? The Community Climate System Model (CCSM version 3) that is run with the supercomputer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research incorporates data about all of the natural processes shown in this diagram to simulate Earth’s complex climate system. Click on image for full size (170 Kb) UCAR

Global climate models (GCMs) use math - alot of math - to describe how the atmosphere, the oceans, the land, living things, ice, and energy from the Sun affect each other and Earth's climate. Thousands of climate researchers use global climate models to better understand how global changes such as increasing greenhouses gases or decreasing Arctic sea ice will affect the Earth. The models are used to look hundreds of years into the future, so that we can predict how our planet’s climate will likely change.

There are various types of climate models. Some focus on certain things that affect climate such as the atmosphere or the oceans. Models that look at few variables of the climate system may be simple enough to run on a personal computer. Other models take into account many factors of the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere to model the entire Earth system. They take into account the interactions and feedbacks between these different parts of the planet. Earth is a complex place and so many of these models are very complex too. They include so many math calculations that they must be run on supercomputers, which can do the calculations quickly. All climate models must make some assumptions about how the Earth works, but in general, the more complex a model, the more factors it takes into account, and the fewer assumptions it makes. At the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), researchers work with complex models of the Earth's climate system. Their Community Climate System Model is so complex that it requires about three trillion math calculations to simulate a single day on planet Earth. It can take thousands of hours for the supercomputer to run the model. The model output, typically many gigabytes large, is analyzed by researchers and compared with other model results and with observations and measurement data.

There are currently several other complex global climate models that are used to predict future climatic change. The most robust models are compared by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) as they summarize predictions about future climate change.

What’s in a global climate model? The Community Climate System Model (CCSM version 3) that is run with the supercomputer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research incorporates data about all of the natural processes shown in this diagram to simulate Earth’s complex climate system. Click on image for full size (170 Kb) UCAR

Global climate models use math - alot of math - to describe how the Earth works. They include math calculations about how the air, water, land, living things, and ice on Earth affect climate. They include math calculations about how the Sun's rays affects Earth's climate. Scientists use global climate models to better understand how changes like more greenhouses gases or less sea ice will affect our planet. With the models they look hundreds of years into the future to predict how our planet’s climate will likely change.

There are various types of climate models. Some focus on certain things that affect climate such as the atmosphere or the oceans. Others model the entire Earth. Their math calculations take into account as many parts of the planet as they can. Earth is a complex place and so many of these models are very complex too. They include so many math calculations that they must be run on supercomputers, giant and speedy computers which can do the calculations quickly. All climate models must make some assumptions about how the Earth works, but in general, the more complex a model, the more factors it takes into account, and the fewer assumptions it makes. At the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), researchers work with complex models of Earth's climate. Their largest model is so complex that it makes about three trillion math calculations to simulate a single day on planet Earth. It can take thousands of hours for the supercomputer to run the model. The model output is analyzed by researchers and compared with other model results and with observations.

There are currently several other complex global climate models that are used to predict future climatic change. The most robust models are compared to help us understand future climate change.