Response of the GISS GCM to prescribed forcings

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:470975

Borenstein, S R ^[1]

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1. City Univ. of New York, NY (United States). York College

The Global Circulation Model or GCM is a computer simulation of the Earth`s climate, used to predict future weather and climate from present conditions and known forcings. The GCM is a Cartesian grid-point model, run at a resolution of 4{degree}x5{degree} in the horizontal (latitude x longitude) and nine-layers in the vertical. The crucial question is: How accurately and reliably can this be done, given the extreme complication and non-linearity of the system being modelled as well as the intrinsically chaotic nature of the climate. One of the long term goals of the GCM is to predict the effect of anthropogenic greenhouse gases on the future climate. Comparative images representing the model simulations and observations of surface temperatures and precipitation are shown. By comparing the model data to real world observations, the GCM can be evaluated, criticized and ultimately modified to produce more realistic results.

• OSTI ID: 470975
• Report Number(s): CONF-960420--; ISBN 0-884736-02-5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CLIMATIC CHANGE
FORECASTING
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS