2-5: Regional Climate Models; Clouds and Vegetation Effects

Unit Objectives

To understand the difference between global climate models and regional climate models.
To quantify the influence of clouds and vegetation in modifying climate.

Preparation for Online and Class Discussion

Read the summary information.
Class images
Related class images
Print for offline review.
Take the summary information quiz. Quizzes are available from your portfolio.

Additional Related Reading. Although you are not ultimately responsible for content listed in this section, we encourage you to fully explore the links in order to provide a better scope on the upcoming class discussion.

	Houghton, J. T., L. G. Meira Filho, B. A. Callander N. Harris, A. Kattenberg, and K. Maskell, 1996: Climate Change 1995. The Science of Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 306-349.
	Houghton, J. T., G. J. Jenkins, and J. J. Ephraums, 1990: Climate Change, The IPCC Scientific Assessment. Cambridge University Press. p. 155-158.

Online and Class Discussion

A major component of the course is participation in the online dialog. Your comments in the online dialog may be:

Social Comments
Knowledge-building Comments
Ethical Comments

The following may be used as discussion statments for the online dialog:

Unit Problem to Ponder
Unit exam questions from previous years
Unit discussions from previous years

Unit Wrap-up Materials

Group Discussion Summary:

References

	Agriculture cools the US
	Project to Intercompare Regional Climate Simulations.
	Cash, J. H. C., and C. A. Nobre, 1997: Some results from ABRACOS. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 78, 823-828.
	Dickinson, R. E., 1995: Walter Orr Robers Lecuture - Land surface processes and climate modeling. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 76, 1445-1448
	Pan, Z., E. S. Takle, M. Segal, and R. Turner, 1996: Influences of Model Parameterization Schemes on the Response of Rainfall in the Central US to Soil Moisture. Monthly Weather Review 124, 1786-1802.
	Pan, Zaitao, 1996: On Surface Versus Atmospheric Forcing in Regional Climate Simulations. Ph. D. Dissertation. Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. 145 pp.
	Sellers P.J., R. E. Dickinson, D. A. Randall, A. K. Betts, F. G.Hall, J. A. Berry, G. J. Collatz, A. S. Denning, H. A. Mooney, C. A. Nobre, N. Sato, C. B. Field and A. Henderson-Sellers, 1997: Modeling the Exchanges of Energy, Water and Carbon between Continents and the Atmosphere. Science 275, 502-509.