KenMankoff

An Historical Climate Model

I just found some old (1973) global climate model (GCM) documentation lying around the office. The document describes the GISS GCM at some stage between the UCLA parent and Model I. Model I evolved into Model II which became the foundation for EdGCM. I have scanned the document and submitted it to the History of Atmospheric GCMs website.

It is a beautiful document describing all aspects of the GCM: Numerics and dynamics, punch cards, grid schemes, physical equations, tables and tables of variables and units, etc. These two images (click for large version) show the punchcard order for the old GCM, and the grid scheme at the poles. I like the pole graphic because it reminds me of last year when I was at the South Pole.

The oldest paper I know of that discusses human induced climate change is from 1896, by Svante Arrhenius, titled On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground (PDF, 4413KB).

@article{Arrhenius:1896b,
        Author = {Svante Arrhenius},
        Journal = {Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science},
        Month = {April},
        Number = {41},
        Pages = {237 -- 276},
        Title = {{On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air
                upon the Temperature of the Ground}},
        Volume = {5},
        Year = {1896}}

@manual{Tsang:1973,
        Author = {L. C. Tsang and R. Karn},
        Month = {October},
        Institution = {Goddard Institute for Space Studies},
        Organization = {Computer Science Corporation},
        Title = {{A documentation of the GISS nine-level
                atmospheric general circulation model},
        Year = {1973}}

Old Site Transferred

I’ve transferred my old site here. Comments did not get transferred. All those posts are in the ANDRILL category if you would like to see them.

I’m not sure what else will be added here, but maybe something, someday…

First Post!

This site was born 2007-05-12 because I'm going to Antarctica.

For some reason I'm not totally clear on I have never wanted to have a web log, although I have had a personal webpage since 1996, and now have many.

But I'm going to Antarctica and all my wonderful friends and family are excited for my trip, and many have said, “you need to keep a blog”, so here it is.

This is my first entry, really just to get a feel for the software.

This log will be specific to my work and Antarctic trip, although if it works and I get in the habit then I'll probably move it to a personal site… Some pics will show up here, all pics will be on my personal website (see side-bar link).

Why am I going? Because I've wanted to for years. Because I wrote a proposal for work to be part of the ANDRILL team. The proposal was for the PACE project, which will be developed through this site.

What is PACE? I'm not totally sure yet, but it will be software that will help teach about scientific drilling, drill cores, Antarctica, and how the poles affect climate.

When am I going? I'll be “on ice” for about 2.5 to 3 months starting sometime in October, via NZ. I've gathered from previous years that return dates are not pre-scheduled, and occur sometime before or after the new year. I don't know anything more than that yet. If you want to know more, follow this web log and I'll post it as I find out.