In
climate science
Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of stu ...
, a biosphere model, is used to
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure.
Models c ...
the
biosphere
The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also ...
of Earth, and can be coupled with atmospheric
general circulation models (GCMs) for modelling the entire
climate system
Earth's climate system is a complex system having five interacting components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things). '' ...
. It has been suggested that terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) are a more inclusive term than
land surface models (LSMs). The representation of roots in TBMs (or LSMs), however, remains relatively crude. Particularly, the dynamic functions of roots and phylogenetic basis of water uptake remain largely absent in TBMs (or LSMs).
Models
The
Daisyworld computer simulation from 1983, calculated how
radiant energy
Radiant may refer to:
Computers, software, and video games
* Radiant (software), a content management system
* GtkRadiant, a level editor created by id Software for their games
* Radiant AI, a technology developed by Bethesda Softworks for '' ...
increased or decreased, dependent on the
albedo
Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refl ...
effect, based on changes in the biosphere.
The Simple Biosphere (SiB) model, presented by Sellers et al. in 1986, calculates transfer of energy, mass and momentum of the atmosphere and the vegetated surface of the Earth. The model is designed for use in atmospheric ''general circulation models'', to account for the related climate attribution of the biosphere. A revised version was published in 1996 and incorporates satellite measurements.
The Ent Dynamic Terrestrial Biosphere Model is a global vegetation model for use with the
Earth System Modeling Framework
The Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) is open-source software for building climate, numerical weather prediction, data assimilation, and other Earth science software applications. These applications are computationally demanding and usually ...
.
See also
*
Earth's energy budget
Earth's energy budget accounts for the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses back into outer space. Smaller energy sources, such as Earth's internal heat, are taken into consideration, but m ...
*
Ice-sheet model
In climate modelling, Ice-sheet models use numerical methods to simulate the evolution, dynamics and thermodynamics of ice sheets, such as the Greenland ice sheet, the Antarctic ice sheet or the large ice sheets on the northern hemisphere durin ...
*
Land surface models
References
Further reading
*
{{Computer modeling
Numerical climate and weather models