This interdisciplinary volume aimed at graduate students and researchers provides a thorough grounding in the tools necessary for an appreciation of climate change and its implications. It discusses not only the primary concepts involved but also the mathematical, physical, chemical and biological basis for the component models and the sources of uncertainty, the assumptions made and the approximations introduced. Climate System Modeling addresses all aspects of the climate system: the atmosphere and the oceans, the cryosphere, terrestrial ecosystems and the biosphere, land surface processes and global biogeochemical cycles. As a comprehensive text it will appeal to students and researchers concerned with any aspect of climatology and the study of related topics in the broad earth and environmental sciences.

Kevin E. Trenberth emphasizes the fundamental role of energy flows in the climate system and anthropogenic climate change. The distribution of heat, or more generally, energy, is the main determinant of weather patterns in the atmosphere and their impacts. The topics addressed cover many facets of climate and the climate crisis. These include the diurnal cycle; the seasons; energy differences between the continents and the oceans, the poles and the tropics; interannual variability such as Nino; natural decadal variability; and ice ages. Human-induced climate change rides on and interacts with all of these natural phenomena, and the result is an unevenly warming planet and changing weather extremes. The book emphasizes the need to not only slow or stop climate change, but also to better prepare for it and build resilience. Students, researchers, and professionals from a wide range of backgrounds will benefit from this deeper understanding of climate change.