EDGCM: PROVIDING ACCESS TO CLIMATE SIMULATION CAPABILITIES FOR EDUCATORS, STUDENTS, AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC

Climate scientists have regularly employed the complex computer models, known as Global Climate Models (GCMs), to simulate climates of the past as well as to forecast future climate change. The recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) demonstrates that policy makers will be relying heavily on such GCM forecasts to assess the potential impacts of various greenhouse gas scenarios on society. However, climate simulation capabilities are not easily disseminated to the majority of researchers – let alone educators, students, or a myriad of other climate change stakeholders – because most GCMs require high-level computing capabilities and programming support. This lack of broad public access, coupled with the ever-increasing complexity of climate models, can lead to misunderstandings and a distrust of simulation results that compromises climate scientists' ability to convey critical findings: findings that could otherwise help determine society's ability to mitigate, adapt to, or even take advantage of, future climate change. The software and educational tool designs created by the Educational Global Climate Modeling Project (EdGCM) are proof that it is possible to put sophisticated computer climate simulation capabilities - not just "demo" software or output from pre-run simulations - into the hands of non-modelers for use in education and research. The ultimate goal of the EdGCM Project is to get crucial climate simulation technologies into the hands of teachers, professors, and all those who are informing the next generation of policy makers and scientists about climate change, so that we have a skilled workforce capable of dealing with the multitude of climate impacts facing society in the 21st century.