Extremely complicated, computer-simulation of climate and its various components. Run on supercomputers, these models can approximate climate and give some clues to how climate has changed or might change over time.
Generally a three-dimensional time-dependent model of the atmosphere and/or ocean circulation. The solution to a set of mathematical equations governing the motions of a layer of fluid on a spherical planet is numerically approximated on a three-dimensional discrete grid of points to obtain temperatures, velocities, rainfall, pressure and any of several other dependent variables that collectively comprise the state of the climate. Often abbreviated as GCM. See Washington and Parkinson (1986).
A global, three-dimensional computer model that describes the physical processes of the atmosphere and, in many cases, its interaction with the oceans and land surface. Used to generate predictions of how climate might change in response to increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
(GCM): model of the global atmospheric circulation used to project climate conditions. Also called Global Climate Model.
A three-dimensional computer representation of climate and its various components, used to predict climat scenarios. ( modèle de circulation générale (MCG))
A global, three-dimensional computer model of the climate system which can be used to simulate human-induced climate change. GCMs are highly complex and they represent the effects of such factors as reflective and absorptive properties of atmospheric water vapor, greenhouse gas concentrations, clouds, annual and daily solar heating, ocean temperatures and ice boundaries. The most recent GCMs include global representations of the atmosphere, oceans, and land surface.
(GCM) - a type of numerical model used in Numerical Weather Prediction that represents a forecast of the long-term (e.g., months or years in the future) changes in the atmosphere globally
a model that indicates that climate change is associated with increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere leading to the drying of soils.
A mathematical or statistical model describing atmospheric movements over the Earth. Among other things, such models are used to predict how the climate of the Earth may evolve over the years to come as a result of, for example, changes in atmospheric pollution.
A computer model of the basic dynamics and physics of the components of the global climate system (including the atmosphere and oceans) and their interactions which can be used to simulate climate variability and change.
(Abbreviated GCM.) A time-dependent numerical model of the atmosphere. The governing equations are the conservation laws of physics expressed in finite-difference form, spectral form, or finite-element form. Evolution of the model circulation is computed by time integration of those equations starting from an initial condition. The GCM can be used for weather prediction or for climate studies. Compare atmospheric circulation model, hemispheric model.
numerical representation of the atmosphere and its phenomena over the entire earth, using the equations of motion and including radiation, photochemistry, and the transfer of heat, water vapor, and momentum.