A strategy for climate change stabilization experiments

Today, standard climate models (referred to generically as atmosphere-ocean general circulation models, or AOGCMs) include components that simulate the coupled atmosphere, ocean, land, and sea ice. Some modeling centers are now incorporating carbon cycle models into AOGCMs in a move toward an Earth system model (ESM) capability.

Additional candidate components to include in ESMs are aerosols, chemistry, ice sheets, and dynamic vegetation [e.g., Cox et al., 2000; Friedlingstein et al., 2006].