Entering Our Own Epoch

Background on Climate Models - Personal Notes This week I learned how complex climate models really are. I learned that I have much more to learn about math, physics, and chemistry before I can actually be effective at creating climate models. I love the science of climate change, and I love learning about such an important aspect of the science, but I have a long way to go. I did still enjoyed this week of learning because I now understand the basics of these models. I plan to use the background on climate models I gained this week to supplement my presentation on global temperature rise and global sustainability.  The questions I have this week are ones I would only be able to ask a climate science college professor. Fortunately, all of my questions about the theory of climate models from last year were answered by learning the physical makeup of the models. 

Background on Climate Modeling  With each global temperature rise, there are hundreds of climate models that predicted the rise, and thousands of lines of code that made those models. Climate models are complex computer codes that take into account factors of biology, chemistry, and physics to predict climate behaviors. Every climate model, no matter how complex or simple, contains the same base units of energy, heat, and light. Energy is classified by the joule, and climate energy is classified as a calorie. One calorie is equal to four-point-one-eight joules. These calories are not the same as those on a cereal box. One calorie on a cereal box indicates one-thousand scientific calories. Heat is classified as kinetic energy. Each mode of motion, or possible movement path, carries on average, one-half the K times T, 1/2*KT. Where T is temperature and K is the Boltzmann Constant. This equation is used to determine the heat a certain molecule or atom carries. For example, a sin...