Integral-Parameter Climate Models

Abstract

Parts of the atmosphere-ocean-land climate system possess considerable spatial inhomogeneity, vertical as well as horizontal, which can moreover vary with time (for instance, with the seasons). Any description of these using a small number of parameters (for example, the mean air temperature at the Earth’s surface, the mean seawater temperature in the mixed layer, the mean atmospheric pressure at the Earth’s surface, the mean content of moisture and CO₂ in the atmosphere, the mean cloud cover, etc.) would have to be a very incomplete one. Consequently, integral-parameter models of the climate and one-dimensional models, describing only the vertical, or only the latitudinal, inhomogeneity of a climate system, in terms of its overall structure, are bound to be inadequate, and their quantitative results should not, in general, be taken too seriously. On the other hand, such models may at times provide a qualitative picture of the possible role of certain climatic factors and feedbacks. The most well-known models of this type will be described in this chapter and in Chapter 8.