Abstract
Climate models have evolved from research tools to underpin decision-making across the globe. To provide optimal value for society in the future, the models need to be made operational.
Climate models have changed the world. Starting out as simple globally averaged representations of vertical energy exchanges in the atmosphere in the 1950s, today’s climate models are highly complex numerical representations of the Earth system based on the fundamental laws of physics. Their development has largely been driven by scientific curiosity, with the many approximate virtual representations of Earth available today enabling the interrogation of the past and present climate system and the development of an understanding of the influence of human activity on its future. It is this understanding that underpins the climate mitigation targets enshrined in the Paris Agreement to limit global mean temperature increases.
Climate models have changed the world. Starting out as simple globally averaged representations of vertical energy exchanges in the atmosphere in the 1950s, today’s climate models are highly complex numerical representations of the Earth system based on the fundamental laws of physics. Their development has largely been driven by scientific curiosity, with the many approximate virtual representations of Earth available today enabling the interrogation of the past and present climate system and the development of an understanding of the influence of human activity on its future. It is this understanding that underpins the climate mitigation targets enshrined in the Paris Agreement to limit global mean temperature increases.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1158-1160 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Nature Climate Change |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs |
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| Publication status | Published - Nov 2023 |
