Definitions
Climate Models
A climate model is a computer-based representation of the Earth system that solves mathematical equations describing the physics of the atmosphere, ocean, and the land surface to help us understand how Earth’s climate is changing (Stocker et al. 2013). Climate models differ widely in their complexities. While earlier climate models were used to study the broad features of climate and reproduce the current climate state, the focus of recent developments has shifted to understanding the impact of human-induced climate change on the Earth system (IPCC 2014). The complexity of these models vary in the following ways (in increasing order of complexity):
Energy balance models, which model the climate in terms of global energy budget. These models only consider outgoing and incoming radiative energy leaving the planet. This can be expanded vertically and/or horizontally....
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Moskos, C. et al. (2017). Informing Climate Adaptation with Earth System Models and Big Data. In: Shekhar, S., Xiong, H., Zhou, X. (eds) Encyclopedia of GIS. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17885-1_1626
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