A friend of mine alerted me to this BBC-sponsored climate experiment that runs on the distributed computing model. It attempts to accurately predict climate change by calling on the masses for their spare computing processing power.
So why do we need so many people?
This experiment uses a computer model to try and calculate what the climate will be like in the future. However, small changes to the model can have large effects on the predictions that we get.
There’s only one way to get around this problem. If we run just one model, we have no idea how accurate it is. But if we run many thousands of models, we start to see patterns emerge. Some might be wildly inaccurate and predict warming or cooling much more severe than we are likely to see. But if a significant percentage of results fall within a smaller range, we can start to get a feel for how the climate might be changing.
And of course, it’s not just about the state of the planet now. The biggest question of all is the effect that we are having on the climate. What happens if we continue to pump out greenhouse gasses at the same rate as we are today? What happens if emissions to grow? And how much do we need to cut emissions by to make an impact on global warming?
To get the most accurate answers to these questions, we need as many people as possible to run climate models on their own computers.
Last I saw Hong Kong only had ~100 people crunching climate models. Why not become a part of this experiment, and in the process help our Planet? To get started, simply click the following link.
Note! Do not run this program on your laptop due to the heat generated from intesive processing tasks.
Link: Climateprediction.net