Definitions for "General Circulation Model"
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.