General Information
MAGICC (Model for the Assessment of
Greenhouse-gas Induced Climate Change) is a
set of coupled gas-cycle, climate and ice-melt models that allows the user to
determine the global-mean temperature and sea-level consequences of
user-specified greenhouse gas and sulphur dioxide emissions. MAGICC
is designed for two main purposes:
- to compare the implications of a 'Policy' emissions scenario with
a 'Reference' scenario in order to see how effective a specified emissions
control policy is relative to a baseline 'no-climate-policy' case.
- to determine the sensitivity of results to model parameter uncertainties.
This may done by comparing results for a given emissions scenario for
a user-specified set of parameters with those for a default set of
parameter values.
The models used by MAGICC were developed in the Climatic Research Unit and
at NCAR over a number of years primarily by Tom Wigley and Sarah Raper.
These models are written and executed in FORTRAN. SCENGEN is based on a
scaling algorithm devised by Tom Wigley and Ben Santer. It, too, is coded
in FORTRAN, with
the software completely revised and rewritten by Tom Wigley for the current
version. The MAGICC and SCENGEN shells (GUIs) were designed and written in
Tcl/Tk by Mike Salmon and Seth McGinnis, with assistance from Tom Wigley and
Mike Hulme. The current version of MAGICC/SCENGEN (Version 4.1; Sept. 2003)
replaces all previous versions. The shell has been redesigned as a Windows
application. All the component models that make up MAGICC and the default
parameter values are those used by the IPCC in their Third Assessment Report.
Funding:
MAGICC, and the models used by MAGICC, have been funded from a number of
sources over the years. These include the US Department of Energy, the UK
Department of the Environment (now DEFRA), the US National Science Foundation,
the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and DG-Research of the Commission
of the European Union. Most of the recent development of SCENGEN was funded
by the US Environmental Protection Agency through a contract with
Stratus Consulting, Boulder, CO.
Help:
Within MAGICC you will be able to find information about the various menu
options by clicking on the Help buttons. This will display a brief
description of the options available to the user and the consequence of each
selection. More detailed information about MAGICC will be found in the
User and Technical Manuals.
Licence:
MAGICC can only be used under licence. All users must be registered by
completing a Licence Agreement. A copy of this
Agreement (LICENCE.DOC) is given at the end of the User Manual, or can be
found in the SCEN-41/MAGICC subdirectory. Details of the MAGICC/SCENGEN
directory structure can be found at the end of the Technical Manual. Please
print the Licence, read it, sign it, copy it and return it to Tom Wigley,
NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, USA, [wigley@ucar.edu
; fax 303 497 1333].