|
William Collins answers a few questions about this month's
new hot paper in the field of Geosciences.
From
•>>March 2007
Field:
Geosciences
Article Title: The Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3)
Authors: Collins,
WD;Bitz, CM;Blackmon, ML;Bonan, GB;Bretherton, CS;Carton, JA;Chang, P;Doney, SC;Hack, JJ;Henderson, TB;Kiehl, JT;Large, WG;McKenna, DS;Santer, BD;Smith, RD
Journal: J CLIMATE
Volume: 19
Issue: 11
Page: 2122-2143
Year: JUN 1 2006
* Natl Ctr Atmospher Res, POB 3000, Boulder, CO 80307 USA.
* Natl Ctr Atmospher Res, Boulder, CO 80307 USA.
* Univ Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 USA.
* Univ Maryland, College Pk, MD 20742 USA.
* Texas A&M Univ, College Stn, TX USA.
* Woods Hole Oceanog Inst, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA.
* Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Livermore, CA USA.
* Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM USA.
|
 Why
do you think your paper is highly cited?
|
“The paper describes the formulation and basic properties of the third and latest version of the Community Climate System Model
(CCSM).”
|
|
This paper describes a new climate model that is being widely
used within the community of climate researchers. It has also been
applied extensively to provide projections of future climate change
for the upcoming 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Does
it describe a new discovery, methodology, or synthesis of knowledge?
The paper describes the formulation and basic properties of the
third and latest version of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM).
This is a model of the Earth’s climate that can simulate the
coupled interactions of the atmosphere, ocean, sea-ice, and land.
Could
you summarize the significance of your paper in layman’s terms?
Climate models are widely used by scientists to study the
evolution of the Earth in the past, present, and future. These
models are now sufficiently complex that large, interdisciplinary
teams of scientists develop them in concert, in order to simulate
the effects of Global Warming,
one of the most pressing issues facing humanity today.
This paper describes a new climate model developed by an
international team assembled under the auspices of the National
Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The paper
demonstrates how projections with this new model should have greater
fidelity than previous versions of the model.
How
did you become involved in this research, and were there obstacles
along the way?
My personal research concerns the interactions of sunlight and
heat with greenhouse gases, aerosols, and other constituents of the
Earth’s atmosphere. I became involved in the development of our
new model because the model provides an ideal numerical
"laboratory" to study the regional and global implications
of these interactions.
During the development of the new CCSM system, I served as the
chair of the project’s scientific steering committee. The biggest
challenge in developing a model of this complexity is that the
nonlinear interactions among various components of the climate
system are often surprising and frequently counter-intuitive.
Are
there any social or political implications for your research?
We used the CCSM to perform comprehensive simulations of the
future of the Earth’s climate through 2,400 A.D., under a variety
of scenarios for emissions of man-made greenhouse gases. These
simulations have been assessed as part of the 4th Assessment Report
of the IPCC.
A summary of this report *
was issued on February 2, 2007 by the Working Group 1 of the IPCC.
This
report is the primary vehicle for summarizing the state of climate
science and for conveying that summary to policy makers across the
globe.
Bill Collins, Ph.D.
Scientist III, Climate Modeling Section
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, CO, USA
*NOTE:
All external sites will open in a new browser.
The Thomson Corporation and esi-topics.com does not endorse external sites.
|
ESI Special Topics,
March 2007
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/nhp/2007/march-07-WilliamCollins.html
|
|
