Beyond Global Warming

"Climate models are some of our most powerful tools for exploring human-induced global warming. These models, derived from numerical weather prediction models, are based upon the fundamental laws of physics. Using powerful computers, they can act as virtual laboratories for studying the structure and behavior of the atmosphere-ocean-land system. As our climate models get more and more sophisticated, they allow us to not only better predict climate change, but also to learn more about the physical mechanisms involved in climate, which remain difficult to isolate without the help of computers. Starting from Svante Arrhenius, the Swedish physicist who created the first climate model of the Earth over a century ago, this book presents a history of the use of models in studies of climate change. It is written explicitly from the perspective of the authors, particularly Syukuro Manabe, one of the forefathers of modern climate modelling. Although not a memoir, Beyond Global Warming will describe his (and, to a degree, Anthony Broccoli's) intellectual relationship to the development of the field at key points over the last half-century. The book begins with the basics of atmospheric circulation and the scientific antecedents of climate modelling. The authors then overview important historical advances, such as the first general circulation models, and the insights into climate physics they gave us. This includes the role of the oceans in climate change. In addressing climate modelling as a rich and consistently developing field, the book will demonstrate its power as a tool for revealing the mysteries of climate, one of the most complicated pieces of our planetary system, and its potential to teach us even more in the coming decades"--