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Climate, Ecology & Environment

From the greenhouse effect to tectonic drift and tornado dynamics — the physical systems that sculpt our planet, made interactive. Tune CO₂, plate velocities and storm conditions and watch Earth respond.

6 simulations Three.js · Canvas 2D · WebGL Atmosphere · Tectonics · Erosion

Category Simulations

Earth system dynamics — atmosphere, lithosphere and biosphere

Climate is a coupled, non-linear dynamical system with dozens of feedback loops. Positive feedbacks (ice-albedo, water vapor) amplify warming; negative feedbacks (blackbody radiation, clouds) stabilise temperature. Tipping points occur where positive feedbacks overcome negative ones — a qualitative change in system state that is difficult to reverse.

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★★☆ Moderate
Atmospheric Convection
Rayleigh-Bénard convection cells driven by a temperature gradient. Watch hot parcels rise, cool, sink — the fundamental mechanism behind weather, ocean circulation and Earth's mantle flow.
WebGL Convection Fluid Dynamics Buoyancy
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★★☆ Moderate
Tectonic Plates
Voronoi-partitioned crustal plates driven by mantle convection. Watch divergent boundaries spread ocean floor, convergent zones subduct and collide, and transform faults slip — all in geological time.
Three.js Voronoi Plate Tectonics Subduction
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★★☆ Moderate
Tornado Dynamics
Supercell thunderstorm vortex: warm inflow meets rotating updraft. Tune wind shear, temperature lapse rate and moisture to trigger or suppress tornado formation. Particle debris orbit the funnel cloud.
Three.js Vortex Wind Shear Mesocyclone
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★★☆ Moderate
Terrain & Erosion
Procedural heightmap via layered Perlin noise. Hydraulic erosion simulation: water flows downhill, carries sediment and deposits it in valleys. Adjustable rainfall, erosion rate and terrain size.
Three.js Perlin Noise Hydraulic Erosion Heightmap
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★★☆ Moderate
Earth Energy Balance
Zero-dimensional EBM: incoming solar − reflected (albedo) − outgoing longwave = dT/dt. Add CO₂ forcing, ice-albedo feedback and see equilibrium temperature shift. Abrupt tipping point visible at critical greenhouse levels.
Canvas 2D EBM Greenhouse Effect Albedo
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★★★ Advanced
Carbon Cycle
Box model: atmosphere ↔ ocean ↔ biosphere ↔ lithosphere CO₂ fluxes. Add anthropogenic emissions and watch atmospheric CO₂ overshoot — with ocean acidification and permafrost thaw feedbacks.
Canvas 2D Box Model CO₂ Ocean Acidification

Key Concepts

Earth system science fundamentals

Energy Balance Model
Incoming solar Sₒ(1−α)/4 = outgoing σT⁴ at equilibrium. α is albedo (0.3 for Earth). Greenhouse gases reduce outgoing longwave → T rises until new balance. Climate sensitivity: ~3°C per CO₂ doubling including feedbacks. Ice-albedo feedback is a strong positive amplifier.
Plate Tectonics
Convection in the mantle drags rigid crustal plates. Divergent boundaries: melting mantle fills gap → mid-ocean ridge. Convergent: denser oceanic plate subducts under continental → volcanism. Transform: plates slide horizontally → earthquakes. Wilson cycle: oceans open and close over ~500 Ma.
Hydraulic Erosion
Water carries sediment s proportional to slope × velocity. Each droplet erodes when carrying capacity < limit, deposits when over capacity. Iterating millions of droplets carves realistic valleys, ridges and alluvial fans from a flat Perlin heightmap in seconds.
Lorenz Attractor & Climate
Lorenz (1963) derived his 3-variable ODE from a simplified Rayleigh-Bénard convection model. The strange attractor means: long-term climate statistics are predictable, but specific trajectories are not. "It is impossible to predict the weather more than two weeks ahead" — chaos, not randomness.

Learning Resources

Articles on Earth system science and climate modelling

Article Tectonic Plates — How They Move Mantle convection, plate boundaries, subduction zones and the Wilson cycle explained with interactive diagrams. → Article Perlin Noise & Procedural Terrain Octaves, persistence, lacunarity — build realistic heightmaps and biome maps from layered noise functions. → Article Earth's Energy Balance — the Physics of Climate Zero-dimensional EBM, Stefan-Boltzmann, greenhouse forcing, albedo feedback and tipping points. →
All articles →
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★★☆ Moderate New
Ocean Acidification
Real carbonate chemistry — pH, aragonite saturation and coral bleaching as atmospheric CO₂ rises from 280 to 1000 ppm.
Canvas 2D Carbonate Chemistry CO₂ Coral Reef

About Climate Science Simulations

Greenhouse effect, ocean circulation, ice-albedo feedback, and climate models

Climate science simulations model the coupled physical processes that regulate Earth's energy balance and drive long-term climate change. Energy-balance model simulations solve the global mean temperature as a function of solar constant, albedo, and greenhouse-gas optical depth, reproducing the historic temperature record and projecting future scenarios. Ocean-circulation simulations model thermohaline density-driven flow, showing how meltwater pulses slow the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation.

Ice-albedo feedback simulations demonstrate the positive-feedback mechanism that amplifies polar warming: as ice melts, albedo decreases, absorbing more sunlight and melting more ice. Carbon-cycle box models track CO₂ exchange between atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere. These are simplified versions of the coupled general-circulation models (GCMs) used in the IPCC assessment reports, making the physics of climate change directly explorable.

Climate simulations are among the most consequential models in science. Global Climate Models (GCMs) run on supercomputers solve coupled ocean-atmosphere equations to project future temperatures, precipitation patterns, and sea level rise. The simple Energy Balance Models simulated here are the conceptual ancestors of these GCMs and are still used by scientists to understand climate sensitivity, feedback mechanisms, and the timing of past ice ages.

Key Concepts

Topics and algorithms you'll explore in this category

Greenhouse EffectInfrared absorption by CO₂, H₂O, CH₄ molecules
Radiative ForcingEnergy imbalance from greenhouse gas changes (W/m²)
Ocean Circulation (AMOC)Thermohaline conveyor and heat transport
Albedo FeedbackIce-albedo and cloud-albedo positive feedbacks
Carbon CycleOcean, terrestrial, and atmospheric carbon reservoirs
EBM (Energy Balance Model)0D/1D radiative equilibrium temperature

🌍 Test Your Climate Knowledge

Five quick questions to check your understanding of climate science

Climate Quiz

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about this simulation category

How does the greenhouse effect simulation work?
Incoming solar shortwave radiation passes through the atmosphere largely unimpeded. The Earth's surface absorbs it, heats up, and emits longwave (infrared) radiation. Greenhouse gas molecules absorb and re-emit this infrared, effectively reducing the rate of energy loss to space and raising surface temperature.
What is radiative forcing?
Radiative forcing (RF) measures the change in energy flux (W/m²) at the top of the atmosphere caused by a change in a climate driver (e.g., doubling CO₂). A positive RF means more energy entering than leaving, causing warming. The IPCC estimates CO₂ doubling produces ~3.7 W/m² of forcing.
How is ocean circulation modelled?
The thermohaline circulation (AMOC) is driven by density differences caused by temperature and salinity. Cold, salty water in the North Atlantic sinks and drives the global conveyor belt. The simulation models this as a simplified box model with temperature and salinity exchanges between ocean boxes.

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