Potential Avenues for Collaborative Research on Climate Modeling

Abstract:

The production and circulation of climate knowledge is mediated through interconnected but disparate systems of data acquisition, modeling, analytics, and communication. Complex synoptic models, such as general circulation models (GCMs) of the Earth’s climate or detailed process integrated assessment models (IAMs) to estimate the socio-economic impacts of climate change policy choices, are critical to this process but impractical to run at the spatial scale of human experience -- that of a city, a valley, or a farm -- or for hundreds of different parameter settings. Complex models can be statistically downscaled using exogenous information to infer higher spatial resolution. They are typically run according to standardized scenarios of emissions regulation and/or socio-economic development, such as the shared sustainability pathways (SSPs). Modelers make subjective choices throughout these processes that can be meaningfully enriched and democratized through interdisciplinary collaboration, with the potential to more effectively serve goals of social and environmental justice. These topics will be discussed in the context of collaborative IAM and scenario construction.