Comparing Zero- and One-Dimensional Climate Models

Abstract

Zero-dimensional energy balance climate models that have appeared in the literature do not exhibit the same physical behavior as one-dimensional energy balance models. Although numerical values of such predicted quantities as the globally averaged surface temperature and its sensitivity to a solar constant change can be made nearly the same in the two model types, the physical mechanisms leading, for example, to the white earth solution when the solar constant is decreased below some critical lower limit are different. It is possible to formulate a global albedo for use in certain zero-dimensional models such that results obtained from zero- and one-dimensional models are both physically. and mathematically identical.