UCAR Office of Education and Outreach Dr. Randy M. Russell

Climate Modeling - Educational Resources

Links to various educational resources related to climate modeling:

• The Very, Very Simple Climate Model interactive
  • Activity writeup for the Very, Very Simple Climate Model
  • Climate Model "Test Drive" - includes screen shots of sample model scenario results
• Resolution of Climate Models - images, animations, and text illustrating and explaining resolution of climate models - how grid sizes affect model precision and computing time
• Components and Evolution of Climate Models - illustrations and descriptions of the components that make up climate models and how climate models have evolved over several decades.
• The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
• An in-depth review of the IPCC and its findings, geared towards educators - includes a link to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document created by Working Group I as part of the Fourth Assessment Report - a gold mine for teachers wishing to understand and explain to students the major issues in the field of climate science!
• IPCC Scenarios Comparison interactive - view descriptions of 6 scenarios used in IPCC reports plus graphs of historical and predicted CO₂ emissions, atmospheric CO₂ concentration, and global temperature from 1900 to 2100 for each scenario
• Videos
  • Global Climate Model movie - 2 minute video illustrates the construction of a Global Climate Model (GCM)
  • Why Studies of Past Climate Help Us Make Better Models to Predict the Future - how paleoclimate studies help scientists build better climate models
  • High resolution climate model run of water in the atmosphere - shows cloud patterns in exquisite detail over the course of a year as depicted by NCAR's Community Climate System Model (CCSM)
  • Global surface warming through 2100 as depicted by NCAR's Community Climate System Model (CCSM)
  • Models of Polar Sea Ice Thickness for 1990 through 2049 - with and without increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration
  • Modeled surface temperature anomalies on Earth globe - 1870 to 2100 - as depicted by NCAR's Community Climate System Model (CCSM)

Last modified: 13 July 2011
Created: 29 November 2010