Well, the kind of model I’m using is http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/models/atm-cam/docs/description/. I think it uses finite-element methods—I haven’t gotten into the raw details of it yet, but I’ll read them once school is over. There’s also a radiative transfer part that can get quite complex (especially once you get into the photochemistry of molecules other than ozone with higher fluxes of higher-frequency light)
There are other models that use atmosphere+ocean coupling, but for now we’ll stick to a slab-ocean model, since full coupling would probably require a supercomputer.
Most of the papers so far have only been on energy-balance models, which are really just 1D models to predict the climate of the planet as a whole.
What kind of models are used for modelling the atmosphere? Do you use lots of finite-element methods?
Well, the kind of model I’m using is http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/models/atm-cam/docs/description/. I think it uses finite-element methods—I haven’t gotten into the raw details of it yet, but I’ll read them once school is over. There’s also a radiative transfer part that can get quite complex (especially once you get into the photochemistry of molecules other than ozone with higher fluxes of higher-frequency light)
There are other models that use atmosphere+ocean coupling, but for now we’ll stick to a slab-ocean model, since full coupling would probably require a supercomputer.
Most of the papers so far have only been on energy-balance models, which are really just 1D models to predict the climate of the planet as a whole.
Here’s another example of similar work that has been done (recently) on tidally-locked planets: http://astrobites.com/2011/05/10/pack-your-suitcase-super-earth-gliese-581d-is-in-the-%E2%80%98habitable-zone%E2%80%99/