goodbye Sims hello Gcms!
ExPan Killer Ap for 2005: EdGCM,
the DIY desktop climate model

NASA's GISS and Earth Sysems Directorate have just released EdGCM, a free version of their (Goddard Institute of Space Studies) General Circulation Climate model (GCM), tailored for education (aside from ecogeeks, who but students are going to be the early adaptors to this gem?). You can run through common scenarios (including several GHWarming and Ice Age scenarios), as well as create a model and tweak it to see how the planet will react to say, a tripling of CO2, or full breakdown of the thermohaline belt. Forget what the pundits say, see for yourself what may happen in our near future!

on their site, EdGCM says:
"Most climate researchers believe that climate change will impact our planet's environment and the world's economy profoundly in the coming decades. Thus, everyone should have a basic knowledge of the Earth’s climate system so that informed judgments may be shaped with regard to critical issues" ---i couldn't have said it better myself!

While GCMs aren't perfect (they don't fully understand clouds and rainfall all that well) they have gotten much more accurate in their parametrization of these tougher issues --which are actually more chemistry than physics so its understandable that it would be a weak spot in these atmospheric models. And since they are atmospheric models i hasten to say that the real fun with these will also be hacking in and hybridising some sort of Ocean Circulation Model to get a much more detailed and accurate model... Way more fun than Sea Monkeys!