A former student of colleague Steve Ross sends this interesting report on how simulation models can/are being used in the real world:

I’m the communications officer for the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University. The IRI specializes in making forecasts of climate for every part of the world by using data from satellites, meteorological stations and proxy records (tree rings, corals, etc) to run models. The models tell us, with varying degrees of certainty, how much off the “norm” rainfall, temperature and humidity will be for a given place in the world.  We’re not so ...   more »