Modelling the climate and its evolution at the global and regional scales : final report for the special project from the member state Belgium

The overall objective of the research project CLIMOD (CLImate MODelling) was to contribute to the international research effort leading to an improved understanding of the climate system and to a better assessment of the impact of human activities on the global and regional climates. Two main tools were employed to reach this goal : modelling and data analysis. Four Belgian reaseach teams haved pooled their expertise in this project : ASTR-GCMG (global climate modelling), GI (ice- sheet modelling),ASTR-RCMG (regional climate modelling), and RMI-GCS (climate data). At the beginning of the project, members of the research network CLIMOD had at their disposal a coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM), the first and the only one in Belgium, a regional atmospheric model (called MAR), and a Greenland ice-sheet model (GISM). Each of these complex three-dimensional models was run by a different team in a different location. At the end of the project, a community model, to which each team has contributed a component, is accessible to all in a common computer environment.