What Improvements do Models Need to be More Accurate?
The lower atmosphere

Climate models are becoming better at representing the atmosphere. But closer to the surface some of the model equations are different and we need to take into consideration the effect of the land or ocean on the air above it. This can be difficult because of the vertical resolution of the climate model.

A course vertical resolution, which has less layers, makes the model run faster (because it does not have to do as much computing with less vertical layers) and would be appropriate in the middle atmosphere where things like temperature and moisture content change very little with height. On the other hand, a high or fine vertical resolution, or one with many layers, would better capture the important processes that occur near the surface.

It would be ideal to have a high resolution close to the surface, where things like temperature and humidity change rapidly with height, and a lower resolution farther up in the atmosphere. Researchers at CMMAP are developing the equations to create such a vertical resolution.

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