Modeling Dynamic Climate Systems (With CD-ROM) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book aims to teach about climate modeling while presenting some fundamentals of atmospheric physics by providing numerous STELLA models ranging from a simple stability model of a leaky bucket to much more complex (and relevant) models for Rossby waves and El Nino. Though the models are not "rigorous", they are intended to show how simplifications can enhance understanding and how some simplifications meet the goals of the model while other times simplifications miss important aspects for accurate models.
For those who are looking for sophisticated programing and modeling approaches, they are sure to be disappointed. However, for those who are either trying to learn or teach basics of climate modeling to those with limited mathematical expertise or teaching students with such limited experience, this book will prove quite useful. The approximately 40 STELLA models included with the book guide the reader to an intuitive understanding of an Earth system approach of atmospheric science. I plan to use a number of examples with a group of students who have only a simple calculus background. Though the text has a 2001 copywrite and the CD-ROM was intended for an earlier version of STELLA, I found that the models could be translated to the newest versions of STELLA on a Macintosh through a fairly simple manipulations and help from software updates provided by High Performance Systems. The text would be useful for junior level classes in atmospheric science aimed at students in environmental science programs. It would be less useful for those with strong math skills majoring in a rigorous atmospheric science sequence, though it could provide such students with a much better conceptual understanding than they might receive in a more mathematically sophisticated class.

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In the process of building and using models to comprehend the dynamics of the atmosphere, ocean and climate, the reader will learn how the different components of climate systems function, interact with each other, and vary over time. Topics include the stability of climate, Earths energy balance, parcel dynamics in the atmosphere, the mechanisms of heat transport in the climate system, and mechanisms of climate variability. Special attention is given to the effects of climate change. The book is accompanied by a cross-platform CD-ROM containing models and a run-time version of STELLA modeling software.

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