Envisioning Climate Change Using a Global Climate Model

From the website:

In this chapter, users run the climate modeling software, Educational Global Climate Modeling Suite (EdGCM), to visualize how temperature and snow coverage might change over the next 100 years. They begin by running a "control" climate simulation to establish a baseline for comparison. After this first simulation, they run a second "experimental" simulation. Then they compare and contrast the changes in temperature and snow and ice coverage that could occur due to increased atmospheric greenhouse gases. Next, users choose a region of their own interest to explore. They compare their modeling results with those documented in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) impact reports. Through working with EdGCM, users gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the process and power of climate modeling.

This chapter is part of the Earth Exploration Toolbook. Each chapter provides teachers and/or students with direct practice for using scientific tools to analyze Earth science data. Students should begin on the Case Study page.