About
This online textbook could be followed section by section, presenting first
the climate system and its components, then the way various types of climate
models are developed and used, and finally the application of those concepts to
the analysis of the climate during different periods. Alternatively, we designed
the web site so that the entry can be first a term of the
glossary or a result of the search engine, then navigating through
the whole textbook to obtain the
required information. Readers looking for the explanation of a precise point
or for a more general overview of a topic could also follow the two different
approaches.
From the beginning, our intent was to provide an entirely free and
unrestricted access to the material published on this website. As a
consequence, providing that you cite the source and do not alter the
scientific message, you are allowed to print the online textbook for
non-commercial use, to include some parts in courses or lectures and to use
the figures that are not protected by copyright.
We hope that you will find
this site enjoyable and instructive.
If you need to cite this online textbook, please use the following reference:
Goosse H., P.Y. Barriat, W. Lefebvre, M.F. Loutre and V. Zunz, (date of view).
Introduction to climate dynamics and climate modeling. Online textbook
available at http://www.climate.be/textbook.
Additional information on the goals of the textbook can be found in the
Preface.
Email corrections and suggestions
can be sent to: hugues.goosse@uclouvain.be
Acknowledgements
Many colleagues have read carefully the various sections of this online
textbook and suggested modifications that improved significantly the quality
of the published material. We would like to thank particularly André Berger, Victor Brovkin,
Michel Crucifix, Eric Deleersnijder, Anne de Montety, Thierry Fichefet, Hans Renssen,
Benoit Tartinville and Kevin Trenberth. We benefit of
very useful advices from Françoise Docq, Marcel Lebrun, Denis Smidts of the
Institut de Pédagogie universitaire et des Multimédias of the Université
catholique de Louvain (IPM,
http://www.ipm.ucl.ac.be).
Antoine Barthélemy helped in the introduction of revisions in the text and on the textbook web site.
We also want to
acknowledge the organisations, publishers and scientists who allow us to
reproduce their work without any charge. This work is supported by the Fonds
de Développement Pédagogique of the
Université catholique de Louvain in the
framework of the project: "Réalisation de simulations interactives comme
support à l’apprentissage dans le cadre du cours d’introduction à la physique
du système climatique et à sa modélisation."