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- Ecosystems: modelling the Earth
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How can numerical models help us to understand our planet? How do we make sure they represent reality? This album introduces ongoing work to model the entire planet's ecosystems, simulating the complex physical, chemical and biological interactions taking place between every living organism and climatic activity. Since everything is interconnected, Earth systems modelling can help our understanding of how the Earth's processes affect each other. For example, by increasing the rate of decay of leaf litter in North American forests, scientists can investigate the effect on global temperatures. The acid test is to see how well the model reflects reality, by comparing the model's predictions against real-world data. This material forms part of The Open University course S396 Ecosystems.
By: The OpenLearn team (The Open University,)
- Duration 15 mins
- Updated Wednesday 20th January 2010
- Posted under Across the Sciences
Track 2: Using a model
How models can be used to predict the Earth's climate patterns.
© The Open University 2010
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Tracks in this podcast:
Track | Title | Description |
---|---|---|
1 | Ecosystems: modelling the Earth | A short introduction to this album. Play now Ecosystems: modelling the Earth |
2 | Using a model | How models can be used to predict the Earth's climate patterns. Play now Using a model |
3 | The acid test | The limitations of models; how to measure model error. Play now The acid test |
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Originally published: Wednesday, 20th January 2010
Copyright information
- Body text - Content : Copyright The Open University
- Audio/Video tracks: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 The Open University 2010
- Image 'Ecosystems: modelling the Earth' - Copyright: The Open University 2010
- Image 'Models and modelling' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Modelling pollution in the Great Lakes' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Modelling object-oriented software – an introduction' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Penguins on ice' - Copyright: BBC
- Image 'British Science Week' - Copyright: British Science Week
- Image 'Adam in water wheel' - Copyright: Production team
- Image 'CGI of double helix DNA' - Copyright free: Pixabay
- Image 'woman with a migraine holding her head' - By Sasha Wolff from Grand Rapids (Can't Concentrate: 14/365) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons under Creative-Commons license
- Image 'Kevin Keegan pedals for his life on Superstars' - Copyright: BBC
- Image 'maths for energy landing image' - The Open University under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
- Image 'Dallas - tied to a rocket!' - Copyright: BBC
- Image 'Building the Science Shack' - Copyright: Production team
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Publication details
-
Originally published: Wednesday, 20th January 2010
Copyright information
- Body text - Content: Copyright The Open University
- Audio/Video tracks: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 The Open University 2010
- Image 'Ecosystems: modelling the Earth' - Copyright: The Open University 2010
- Image 'Models and modelling' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Modelling pollution in the Great Lakes' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Modelling object-oriented software – an introduction' - Copyright: Used with permission
- Image 'Penguins on ice' - Copyright: BBC
- Image 'British Science Week' - Copyright: British Science Week
- Image 'Adam in water wheel' - Copyright: Production team
- Image 'CGI of double helix DNA' - Copyright free: Pixabay
- Image 'woman with a migraine holding her head' - By Sasha Wolff from Grand Rapids (Can't Concentrate: 14/365) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons under Creative-Commons license
- Image 'Kevin Keegan pedals for his life on Superstars' - Copyright: BBC
- Image 'maths for energy landing image' - The Open University under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
- Image 'Dallas - tied to a rocket!' - Copyright: BBC
- Image 'Building the Science Shack' - Copyright: Production team
- Image 'Tomorrow's World Logo' - Copyright: BBC
- Image 'A human cell treated with a compound which induces autophagy' - Copyright: Sarah Needs
- Image 'Mike trapped on an island' - Copyright: OU
- Image 'Dallas Campbell' - Copyright: The Open University
- Image 'The globe' - Copyright: Open2 team
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