Professor Alan Haywood of the University of Leeds will be giving a lecture on Thursday 23 February on whether models can simulate climates of the past.  

Due to anthropogenic emissions, that is, pollution from greenhouse gasses caused by human activity, global temperatures will rise during this century by an amount not observed for millions of years. Numerical climate models are the only tool we have to predict the outcomes of humankind’s grand climate experiment. Models however are by definition, imperfect tools. How do we know that their predictions for the future are as good as they need to be? How can we be sure that models can successfully predict climates that are radically different than the present and perhaps towards what we are expect by the end of this century? 

In this lecture, Professor Haywood will aim to examine past climate evolution and how well models are able to reproduce it.  This will include examples from climate extremes such as the Last Glacial Maximum when the UK was largely buried under a major ice sheet, from the mid Cretaceous and mid Eocene thermal maximum when no ice was present at either pole.

'Can models simulate climates of the past?' forms part of the Interdisciplinary Science Research Lectures. The lecture takes place on Thursday 23 February 2012 in Room E, 1st floor, Physics and Astronomy Building, 5.00pm-6.00pm, followed by a drinks reception. If you would like to attend please contact Alex Mack on iscience@le.ac.uk or call 01162523575.