Cover: The January Global Climate Simulated by the Two-Level Mintz-Arakawa Model
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The January Global Climate Simulated by the Two-Level Mintz-Arakawa Model

A Comparison with Observation

by W. Lawrence Gates

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The identification of errors in this simulation is a necessary prelude to the analysis of future experiments. The approach used is to compare one variable at a time, as depicted by the model, with the best obtainable observations. Each comparison makes use of machine-printed maps demonstrating the real and the simulated global fields at two atmospheric levels. Over a dozen variables are thus shown, including pressure, temperature, wind, cloudiness, and heat balance. Even in its present version, the model rather accurately depicts the general features of the January atmosphere. Its major quantitative errors are a low-latitude precipitation rate twice the observed rate, and systematically low cloudiness in the northern hemisphere. Research on how and where best to alter the model is in progress.

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