Energy Balance Climate Models

Chapter 12Applications of EBMs: Paleoclimate

12.1 Paleoclimatology

There are a few areas in paleoclimatology that are particularly well suited for energy balance modeling. It is important to remember that EBMs as we present them in this book (except for those considering vertical structures in Chapters 3 and 4) only treat the surface temperature field. Precipitation and changing ocean circulations are also not included in these EBMs although they are clearly of interest in paleoclimatology. Fortunately, much of the data coming from empirical studies in paleoclimatology pertain to the surface temperature. Anything above the surface is out of bounds for us—it requires a much more sophisticated model to go above the surface or to deal with any ...