Computing the Climate
How We Know What We Know About Climate Change

Accurate climate models have existed since the 1800s. Learn how these models have developed – and why we should believe them.

Steve M. Easterbrook (Author)

9781107133488, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 August 2023

346 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2.5 cm, 0.63 kg

'Easterbrook set himself the task of 'telling the story of how these models of the physical climate system came to be, what scientists do with them, and how we know they can be trusted.' He tells the story well…' Curt Covey and Karl E. Taylor, Reports of the National Center for Science Education

How do we know that climate change is an emergency? How did the scientific community reach this conclusion all but unanimously, and what tools did they use to do it? This book tells the story of climate models, tracing their history from nineteenth-century calculations on the effects of greenhouse gases, to modern Earth system models that integrate the atmosphere, the oceans, and the land using the full resources of today's most powerful supercomputers. Drawing on the author's extensive visits to the world's top climate research labs, this accessible, non-technical book shows how computer models help to build a more complete picture of Earth's climate system. 'Computing the Climate' is ideal for anyone who has wondered where the projections of future climate change come from – and why we should believe them.

1. Introduction
2. The world's first climate model
3. The forecast factory
4. Taming chaos
5. The heart of the machine
6. The well-equipped physics lab
7. Plug and play
8. Sound science
9. Choosing a future
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Ethical & social aspects of IT [UBJ]