CLIMLAB: a Python toolkit for interactive, process-oriented climate modeling

[ ABSTRACT ]

CLIMLAB is an open-ended engine for interactive, process-oriented climate modeling for use in education and research. It is motivated by the need for simpler tools and more reproducible workflows with which to “fill in the gaps” between blackboard-level theory and the results of comprehensive climate models. With CLIMLAB you can interactively mix and match physical model components, or combine simpler process models together into a more comprehensive model. CLIMLAB is used in the classroom (undergraduate and graduate) to put models in the hands of students, and emphasize a hierarchical, process-oriented approach to understanding the key emergent properties of the climate system. CLIMLAB is equally a tool for climate research, where the same needs exist for more robust, processbased understanding and reproducible computational results (Held 2005; Jeevanjee et al. 2017).