The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #149044   Message #3498347
Posted By: GUEST,TIA
03-Apr-13 - 01:01 PM
Thread Name: BS: It's global warming, stupid!
Subject: RE: BS: It's global warming, stupid!
"All models are bad, but some are useful."
I forget whose quote that is...

Global climate change is not something predicted by a model.
It is an observable, measurable phenomenon.
Models have been developed to try to understand how and why it is happening, and to predict where it is heading and at what rate.
Models are built based on known physics, and various parameters adjusted so they can hindcast recorded historical data.
Then they can be used to predict trends (not individual weather events).
The accuracy (or not) of the predictive models remains to be seen, and might not be known for 30 years or more.
Meanwhile, the data that are used to formulate and test the models exist on their own.