tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093436161326155359.post8932561039223285533..comments2024-03-07T06:13:15.953+00:00Comments on Variable Variability: Gavin Schmidt, welcome to HamburgVictor Venemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842816166712285801noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093436161326155359.post-43564838260217771782015-05-07T00:25:44.995+01:002015-05-07T00:25:44.995+01:00Thanks. Please, steal the ideas. That is why I wri...Thanks. Please, steal the ideas. That is why I write them.<br /><br /><i>I gather the weather forecast models are at least similar to the climate GCMs.</i><br /><br />The atmospheric part of climate models is nowadays the same as the global long-term weather prediction models. Also the limited area high-resolution short-term weather prediction models are often used as regional climate model as well.<br /><br />There used to be differences. Climate models put more value on mass conservation and weather prediction more on speed, but as far as I know global climate and weather prediction models are nowadays in most cases the same models. In Germany they are currently still different models, but the work on a common model (ICON) is progressing. <br /><br />Climate models need to be able to change the atmospheric composition. File formats are different in climate and prediction for historical reasons. Such small differences, but the heart of the atmospheric models is the same.<br /><br />For climate models you also have to model the ocean. They often have better vegetation models. Climate models need to model sea ice. The most comprehensive climate models have many more of such additional climate systems in their models. For the weather prediction models you can just take these as fixed from the last observations you have.<br /><br />Recruiting foreign students also happens more and more on the continent, but it is not as important as in the UK. I guess, most students want to learn English as well.Victor Venemahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02842816166712285801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093436161326155359.post-33964080368946529472015-05-04T15:24:36.238+01:002015-05-04T15:24:36.238+01:00I am not sure how serious, or effective, your atte...I am not sure how serious, or effective, your attempt to recruit Gavin Schmidt to the Max Planck might be, but this is a really good overview of the state of the science in the field of climate, and the state of the political climate in this field of science.<br /><br />There are several insights that I wish I had written, and probably will shamelessly steal in the future!<br />The importance of improved observations for weather forecasting, ESPECIALLY in a changing climate system, is well made. It is the local impacts of the secondary effects of a warming globe that will require prediction and adaptation. The benefits of improved forecasting, even by a few hours for severe storms (tornados, hurricanes), and a few days/months for floods and droughts has a very large social utility. But the improved observations for weather forecasting are also the basic data for the climate predictions. I gather the weather forecast models are at least similar to the climate GCMs.<br />The historical weather record has deficiencies as a source of data on global warming, with the resulting quibbles, (real and invented) over the reliability of the data. However the improvements needed for better weather forecasting, more accurate measurement, and consistency over time, are just the factors that would have rendered the past weather records, and hopefully WILL render future records, reliable enough to make firmer conclusions.<br /><br />The utilitarian need for better weather forecasting in a warming world also improves the observational data for climate science.<br /><br />The political climate in the US is ... strange. That anti-science trait has always been apparent to those who have engaged in the Evolution 'controversy'. The cut in science funding is certainly bound to have an effect on the retention of good scientists and the education of the next generation of experts. I think you are right that Europe is already now ahead of the US in the range and quality of its climate research. Just as a similar shift has occurred in particle physics, at least in part because of CERN.<br />Although I suspect that is a view that might be 'hotly' disputed.!<br /><br />And unfortunately the dogma of austerity and governmental minimalism has affected European centers of education and research as well. Even without the political/economic motivation to suppress certain fields of science, the drive for economies has seen a shift in courses, a reduction in staff and research funding and the introduction of heads of these institutes with 'business experience' who can bring their superior money management skills to the service industry enterprise that the university has now become.<br />From what I can gather from friends still in the system, this innovation has resulted in these business managers recruiting far more foreign students (they pay more) and they have also brought in the enormous salaries and pay scales from the finacial sector for themselves. Many university heads are now paid significantly MORE than the Prime Minister of the government!izenhttps://izenmeme.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com