Product Description

This is the first self-contained introduction to climate modelling. Assuming only a basic algebra background, this text provides a history and introduction to climate models and describes such model types as energy balance, radiative-convective, two-dimensional, and general circulation. Stresses the importance of simple models of the climate and their value in testing and extending the concepts upon which much more complex models are founded. Written for an interdisciplinary audience rather than for specialists in atmosphere science, this treatment shows how to judge the credibility of different model types and when and how to apply the results of modelling exercises.

Product Details

• Published on: 1988-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 234 pages

Book Info
Explains the basis and mechanisms of all types of physically based climate models and prepares the reader for the climate modelling literature. New edition covers the latest techniques for modelling coupled biosphere-ocean-atmosphere system. Paper. CD ROM included.

From the Publisher
A thorough update of a very popular text, now containing the very latest developments in this field. It examines the basis and mechanisms of all physically based climate models. Concepts fundamental to climate modelling are introduced through examples and analogies. The first goal of the text is to ascend the "climate modelling pyramid" to the three-dimensional general circulation climate model. The second is to encourage discriminating interpretation of the results of the climate models, enabling the reader to comprehend the relative complexities and applicabilities of the whole range of climate models, without needing to understand every step taken by a particular model. Contains a CD-ROM featuring the latest developments.

From the Back Cover
Climate Modelling is a young discipline, not yet thirty years old. Despite this youth, it has great responsibility thrust upon it by the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change. The ultimate objective of this Convention is to achieve 'stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system' (Article 2). This volume is designed to explain the basis and mechanisms of all types of physically based climate models and to prepare the reader for the climate modelling literature. The book will assist the reader in understanding the relative complexities and applicabilities of the whole range of climate models without needing to follow each step or parameterization in a particular model. In this new edition, the text has been completely revised and augmented with information from the IPCC Second Scientific Assessment. The latest techniques for modelling the coupled biosphere-ocean-atmosphere system are also considered. The final chapter includes details of projects which evaluate and exploit the results of climate models. The accompanying CD contains a suite of resources for those wishing to learn more about climate modelling. Source code and results for a range of model types will allow readers to make their own climate simulations ranging from global glaciations to tropical deforestation.