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The Role of Simple Models in Understanding Climate Change

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Continuum Mechanics and Applications in Geophysics and the Environment

Abstract

The study of the Earth System has a long tradition of using simplified models to achieve a quantitative understanding of processes that are responsible for climate change. The examples of the carbon cycle and the ocean circulation in shaping past and future climate evolution are discussed here and the development from early box models to dynamical models of reduced complexity is reviewed. The latter models are beginning to play a significant and increasing role on our way to a better understanding of the Earth System.

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  1. Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Thomas F. Stocker

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  1. Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    Brian Straughan (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Fachbereich Mechanik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Hochschulstraße 1, 64289, Darmstadt, Germany

    Ralf Greve , Harald Ehrentraut  & Yongqi Wang ,  & 

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Stocker, T.F. (2001). The Role of Simple Models in Understanding Climate Change. In: Straughan, B., Greve, R., Ehrentraut, H., Wang, Y. (eds) Continuum Mechanics and Applications in Geophysics and the Environment. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04439-1_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04439-1_18

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