Clean thinking solves climate model problem

摘要

GOOD news for climate modellers. After 25 years of trying, they have succeeded in simulating the hot climates of Earth's prehistory. So why has it taken so long? Not because of the models themselves, but because the modellers made a false assumption: that aerosol pollution in the past was as bad as it is today. At various times in Earth's history, the planet was much hotter than it is now. Rocks and fossils laid down in these hothouse stretches show that the temperature difference between the poles and the equator was much smaller than it is today. Climate models have long failed to simulate these warm times - they don't heat the poles enough, often falling as much as 15 °C short.