Simplified “toy” models of various components of the climate system are a powerful tool for learning and exploration. Here are a collection of extremely simple models for you to play with and explore.
Most of these simple models were coded in the R programing language Links to an external site., which is free and open-source and available on Mac, Linux, and Windows. There’s an R package called “shiny” Links to an external site. that makes it almost ridiculously easy to turn simple models into interactive websites. I’ve included documentation and code on these sites so you can see how the models and websites work, and adapt them to your own problems if you want.
Climate
- N-Layer Blackbody Atmosphere
- Two-layer graybody atmosphere
- Infrared absorption by greenhouse gases
- BUGSrad radiative transfer with gases and clouds
- Advection of a passive tracer in one dimension
- Milankovitch orbital data browser
- Climate of the Past Millennium
- Local Temperature Extremes (Fort Collins)
- Local Temperature Extremes (New Haven)
- Economics of Carbon with Kaya Identity
- Simple Model of Climate Damages with Discounting
- CO2 and climate effects of emissions reductions
- Earth[carbon]: simple model of the future
