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Two Exploratory Uses for General Circulation Models in Climate Science
- Perspectives on Science
- The MIT Press
- Volume 29, Number 4, July-August 2021
- pp. 493-509
- Article
- Additional Information
Abstract:
In this paper I present two ways in which climate modelers use general circulation models for exploratory purposes. The complexity of Earth’s climate system makes it difficult to predict precisely how lower-order climate dynamics will interact over time to drive higher-order dynamics. The same issues arise for complex models built to simulate climate behavior like the Community Earth Systems Model (CESM). I argue that as a result of system complexity, climate modelers use general circulation models to perform model dynamic exploration (MDE) and climate dynamic exploration (CDE). MDE and CDE help climate modelers to better understand the dynamic structure of the general circulation model system and the actual climate system, respectively.


