ESC seminar No. 27

Towards a strategy for climate model development and evaluation

Date
Wednesday, August 1 2007. 16:00-17:00
Place
Small meeting room 1&2, Conference building, YES
Speaker
Dr. Richard Wood (Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter, UK)
Language
English

Abstract

Following the IPCC 4th assessment report, many comments have been made in policy circles that the science of climate change is done. However, while the evidence of human influence on climate is now very strong, and a consistent picture is emerging from projections of large scale climate change in the future, this leads to a new set of more detailed questions: what mitigation options maximise the chance of stabilising the climate at a certain level? What information can be provided to governments, organisations and individuals to inform their decisions on adapting to climate change?

This new set of scientific questions imposes a new, wider set of demands on climate models. We are being asked to provide information on a wider range of space and time scales than before. How should we develop our models to meet this challenge? How do we decide the relative importance of model resolution, complexity and ensemble size? In this talk I will present our current plans for model development at the Hadley Centre, including our approach to model evaluation in the context of the new scientific agenda.

Contact

Keiko Takahashi
Multiscale Simulation Research Group
Earth Simulator Center
Tel: 045-778-5834
e-mail: takahasi