Climate Modelling Flashcards
Which mathematician set up the first ever weather model?
Lewis Fry Richardson
What feed-backs are there in the climate system?
Water vapour - most important
Cloud radiation
Ocean-circulation
Ice albedo
How does water vapour positive feedback work?
Warmer temperatures = more evaporation
Therefore a warmer atmosphere is a wetter one
WV is a powerful greenhouse gas therefore temperatures continue to rise
How does the ice-albedo feedback work?
As ice melts, less radiation is reflected meaning the earth warms due to the disequilibrium.
What fast-feedbacks are there?
Water vapour and clouds, snow sea ice etc, vegetation and carbon changes
What slow feedbacks are there?
Ocean carbon cycle, vegetation in terms of droubt.
Give an example of land- forms which are too slow to incorporate into a climate model?
Glacier and ice sheets.
What are characteristics of equilibrium climate models?
Cheaper
Exploratory
Often over estimate change in temperature compared with transient runs
What are characteristics of transient climate models?
More expensive
More realistic
Used for 21st century warming projections
Are the following factors positive or negative forcing on the climate system? GHGs Volcanoes Solar Anthropogenic Aerosols
GHGs - Positive
Volcanoes - Negative
Solar - Variable
Anthropogenic Aerosols - negative but uncertain
The estimates for where our climate is heading are known as:
RCP - Representative Concentration Pathway
Making Global Climate Models more accurate on a local scale is known as:
Downscaling
What are the benefits of Regional Models ? RCMs
Good for topography, gives greater detail, especially precipitatio
