Improving the Scientific Foundation for Atmosphere-Land-Ocean Simulations Report of a Workshop (2005) / Chapter Skim
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1 Workshop Context
1 Workshop Context
Pages 3-7
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From page 3... ...
Yet current representations of unresolved processes in the models tend not to adequately represent our knowledge of the underlying physics. Moreover, there is evidence that further progress in numerical simulations is being impeded by the slow pace of improvement in the representation of certain key physical processes in the models.
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From page 4... ...
But some of the problem seems cultural; today's modelers and users of model output seem less engaged with improving model physics than with the increasingly sophisticated numerics, graphics, and architecture of the model system and with using models rather than observations to study geophysical flows. As education and training in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences turn away from model physics, students increasingly see model outputs as truth without the healthy skepticism that should be inherent with these tools.
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From page 5... ...
In the field of education, the increasing ease with which large models may be obtained and run tempts students away from basic understanding and toward mere simulation; likewise, the long gestation period for instrument development and field project design and execution can discourage students and young researchers from these important endeavors. The dichotomy of simulation versus understanding was a theme that connected many areas discussed at the workshop, beginning with the opening talk on this subject by Isaac Held of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA)
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From page 6... ...
the isolation of climate modelers from observationalists and from those involved in numerical weather prediction and (2) the pressure on climate science to produce useful predictions of global warming, which is reducing to subcritical levels the skilled man-hours dedicated to developing and implementing improved physical parameterizations.
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From page 7... ...
WORKSHOP CONTEXT 7 tion of the oceans, atmosphere, and land surface. The committee's concluding thoughts are presented in the final chapter.
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