BRAINCAKEModels of Global Warming
A climate model is a computer program that uses mathematical equations to represent the processes controlling climate: energy from the Sun, the greenhouse effect, ocean currents, clouds, ice cover and the carbon cycle. The Earth is divided into a three-dimensional grid and the model calculates how conditions in each cell change over time.
Models are tested by running them over the past (hindcasting) and checking that they reproduce the measured temperature record. Models that include only natural factors (solar output and volcanic eruptions) cannot reproduce the warming since 1950, but models that also include human greenhouse gas emissions match it well. This is strong evidence that recent warming is anthropogenic.
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