Models vs Modeling Centers
When beginning to work with climate model output, you’ll quickly notice that there are an enormous number of acronyms to wade through – for more details on all of that, see the Model Naming Conventions page. Here we wanted to focus on one distinction that can trip people up: the difference between a climate model and a modeling center.
What is a Modeling Center?
A modeling center is essentially what it sounds like – a place where a climate model is developed. These are typically large research institutions, maintained by the federal government: and modeling centers exist in many countries around the world. Some of these institutions are dedicated primarily to the development of modeling tools, while others are research centers with a broader scope of activities that includes model development. Because they can be so diverse, we encourage you to read more about specific institutions if you’re curious about how they work!
Here is a list of some of the modeling centers that exist (note: there are also many more, trying to make a comprehensive list would be extremely challenging)
- USA: National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO
- USA: NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), Princeton, NJ
- Germany: Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), multiple sites across Germany
- UK: Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services, Exeter
- Australia: Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), multiple sites across Australia
- China: Beijing Climate Centre (BCC), Beijing
- Japan: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokusuka
How is the center different from the model?
Simply put, the modeling center is the place that produces the model, and the model is the product it delivers. You can think of this as like the difference between a car company and the cars they manufacture.
Why are we bringing this up? Well, because it can get confusing to keep track of all the names! They aren’t always the same, and modeling centers produce many different models that have different versions. Just like Toyota provides different car models like the Camry, the Corolla, or the Prius, a modeling center might provide several different products as well. A good example of this is GFDL, which currently provides the Earth System Model (ESM, latest version ESM4), the Global Climate Model (CM, latest version also CM4), and the Seamless System for Prediction and Earth System Research (SPEAR). See their list of publicly released models for more detail!
What does this mean for you?
When you’re working with model output, it’s good practice to be aware of where your data came from. That means reading a bit about the specific dataset you’re using and keeping track of which model you’ve got. For instance: is it the latest version that’s come out of that modeling center? How long ago was it released? What kind of horizontal/vertical resolution does it have, and is it considered generally reliable? By knowing what modeling center released the model, you can get a better idea of where to look to answer these sorts of questions!
To find out more information about your specific dataset, you can start by simply Googling the name (for instance: GFDL ESM4), or using Google Scholar to see if there is a scientific paper that describes the model in more detail. Usually there is, since when they release a new model or model version, modeling centers like to publish a paper that has all the relevant information about their shiny new product so that people can cite it and give them credit. Here is the description paper for GFDL ESM4: you can pick any other model you want and do the same search!
