CLIMATE MODELS
Climate Models
Take home message:
Prediction into the future is difficult, but necessary…
Little Ice Age
Sunspot number
Climate forcings
Emissions Scenarios
· How has the climate changed in the very recent past?
· What caused this most recent climate change?
· What is the most important information required by climate models in order to make predictions into the future?
· Are sunspots able to explain the recent climate changes we have seen? Why or why not?
· Is volcanic activity able to explain the recent trends in climate on Earth? Why or why not?
· Explain how we know that the current climate models operate well, and how we know that they are likely to be make robust predictions of climate in the future.
· Explain why the predictions of global temperature increase for the end of this century (2100) are so variable, from 2-6 deg C?