Getting going with desktop climate modeling

[dropcap4 color=”green”]O[/dropcap4]ver the past 26 hours my 8-core monster Mac Pro has been crunching numbers like never before. I’ve had it running a public domain climate modeling software package called EdGCM. This package, created by scientists at Columbia University, is based on a research-grade global circulation model produced by NASA called GISS II and has been developed primarily for educational uses in colleges, universities and even high schools. You can download a copy of the software for yourself here.

My first simulation – extending 100 or so years into the future – was based on a very simple warming scenario included in the package as a demonstration. The model provides an amazing amount of output, and I’m just getting into some of the maps. The next step is to run it using parameters from the IPCC models currently under consideration.

The best thing about this package is that we can use it for an upcoming class on climate change and marine mammals that Ari Friedlaender and I are teaching this spring at the lab. We now have a tool that allows us to compare current conditions in marine mammal habitats (surface air temperatures at pinniped haul outs, ice conditions in both polar regions, sea surface temperatures etc…) around the world with what may occur if global warming occurs according to a range of predictions, and that provides for a lot of material for projects in the class!