Climate research explores the workings of a global system that includes atmosphere, ocean, land and ice. It relies on systematic recordkeeping and a variety of mathematical techniques, including statistical analysis. It also uses complex computer models to simulate the large-scale motions of the atmosphere and ocean, which transport heat and shape paradigmatic climate variables such as average temperature and precipitation.
Climate science aims to understand and predict both past and present climates. It does this by studying the history of our planet’s climate through observations, such as those recorded in ice cores (paleoclimatology) or in tree rings (dendroclimatology), and by using the results of simulations of historical climates based on theoretical knowledge of the atmosphere and ocean dynamics.
As the world continues to warm, scientists are keeping close watch for changes in weather patterns and in the distribution of plants, migratory birds, and human populations. They are also monitoring the effects of greenhouse gases on our world’s ecosystems and on people’s health.
One of the central challenges of climate science is that it deals with very long-term changes on a global scale, often measured over decades or more. This requires the generation of very long-term datasets, which must undergo extensive processing for quality control, correction, synthesis and transformation. These data products are sometimes referred to as “reanalysis” datasets, and they form the backbone of many studies in climate science. They are used to test and improve climate model projections, identify the causes of recent climate change, examine natural variability in climate, evaluate new measurements, and more.