(Paleo-)climate Modeling

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering climate and paleoclimate modeling concepts, governing physical principles, model types, resolutions, parameterizations, and intercomparison projects.

Luyendyk et al. (1972) Experiment

An early physical modeling study using a $2\,\text{m}$ diameter rotating tank mounted vertically within $10^{-5}\,\text{radian}$ and spun at ~$8\,\text{rpm}$, with foam rubber continents ($5.0\,\text{cm}$), plywood shelves ($0.63\,\text{cm}$), and wind jets to simulate oceanic paleocirculation.

General Circulation Models (GCMs)

Computer-based numerical models that solve fundamental physical equations of fluid motion, thermodynamics, mass conservation, and state to simulate the general circulation of the atmosphere and ocean.

Earth System Models (ESMs)

Comprehensive climate models that couple atmosphere and ocean dynamics with interactive biogeochemical cycles, dynamic vegetation, atmospheric chemistry, carbon cycles, and ice sheets.

Syukuro Manabe

Co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics (1/4 share) recognized for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, demonstrating how increased $CO_2$ leads to surface temperature increases, and laying the foundation for modern climate models in the 1960s.

Klaus Hasselmann

Co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics (1/4 share) recognized for linking chaotic weather with stable climate predictions and developing fingerprinting methods that attribute observed warming to human emissions of $CO_2$.

Giorgio Parisi

Co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics (1/2 share) recognized for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.

Coupler

The central software component in a coupled Earth system model that manages the transmission and balance of flux exchanges (such as heat, water, and momentum) among the atmosphere, ocean, land, land-ice, and sea-ice sub-models.

Non-interactive "White Mountains"

The simplified representation of large ice sheets in many coupled climate models, where they are treated as static, highly reflective elevated landforms because ice sheets evolve much slower than atmospheric and oceanic components.

Slab Ocean Model

A simplified climate model configuration in which the ocean is parameterized as a uniform, static layer of water approximately $50\,\text{m}$ deep with prescribed heat transfer, rather than a fully dynamic three-dimensional circulation model.

Derecho

The high-performance NCAR supercomputer utilized to execute intensive numerical climate simulations and weather forecasting models.

Continuity Equation

A core mass conservation equation employed in GCMs stating that mass cannot be created or destroyed, only transported within or between grid cells.

Spatial Resolution

The grid-cell dimensions (horizontal grid size and vertical layer count) in a model that determine the minimum spatial scale of physical phenomena that can be directly resolved.

Parameterization

The mathematical formulation used in climate models to estimate the bulk effects of unresolved, sub-grid scale processes (such as cloud microphysics, convection, and boundary layer turbulence) as functions of large-scale resolved variables.

Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS)

Large, organized, long-lived convective storm complexes spanning mesoscale distances ($1\,\text{km}$ to $100\,\text{km}$) that represent a leading cause of weather- and climate-related disasters and require parameterization in coarse global models.

Boundary Conditions (Forcings)

External inputs prescribed to a climate model that constrain its state, including orbital parameters, the solar constant, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations ($CO_2$, $CH_4$), continental geography, and ice sheet extent.

Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) Boundary Conditions

Prescribed boundary conditions representing Earth $21{,}000\,\text{years}$ ago, including Northern Hemisphere ice sheets $3\text{--}5\,\text{km}$ thick, global sea level $120\,\text{m}$ lower than present, atmospheric $CO_2$ at $185\,\text{ppm}$, and atmospheric $CH_4$ at $350\,\text{ppb}$.

Model Spinup

The process of running a newly initialized model forward in time until all components—especially the deep ocean, which takes approximately $4000\,\text{model years}$—reach a state of dynamic equilibrium.

Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP)

An international framework coordinated by the WCRP Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM) that defines common experimental protocols, external forcings, and output formats to benchmark climate models and study climate change.

Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP)

A coordinated project that evaluates Earth system model accuracy and feedback mechanisms under climate states radically different from the present (such as the mid-Holocene, LGM, and mid-Pliocene) by benchmarking against proxy paleodata.

Three Dimensions of Climate Modeling Resources

The triad of computational resource trade-offs in Earth system modeling consisting of spatial/temporal resolution, Earth system complexity (number of included processes), and ensemble size.

LEAP (Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics)

An NSF Science and Technology Center (STC) based at Columbia University focused on integrating machine learning with physical modeling to upgrade parameterizations, calibrate Earth System Models, and reduce projection uncertainties.