Energy Balance Climate Models

• Main Authors: Gerald R. North, Robert F. Cahalan, James, A. Coakley
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1981
• Subjects: Ice cap
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.451.9474; http://geotest.tamu.edu/userfiles/88/energy_balance_climate_models_1981.pdf

An introductory survey of the global energy balance climate models is presented with an emphasis on analytical results. A sequence of increasingly complicated models involving ice cap and radiative feed-back processes are solved, and the solutions and parameter sensitivities are studied. The model parame-terizations are examined critically in light of many current uncertainties. A simple seasonal model is used to study the effects of changes in orbital elements on the temperature field. A linear stability theorem and a complete nonlinear stability analysis for the models are developed. Analytical solutions are also ob-tained for the linearized models driven by stochastic forcing elements. In this context the relation be-tween natural fluctuation statistics and climate sensitivity is stressed. CONTENTS