Predictive use of the Maximum Entropy Production principle for Past and Present Climates

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of the Maximum Entropy Production principle to develop simple climate models that approximate complex models and incorporate feedbacks, enhancing understanding of past and present climates.

Contribution

It demonstrates how MEP-based models can effectively simulate climate dynamics and introduces methods to include feedback mechanisms for improved realism.

Findings

MEP models approximate complex climate models effectively

Including feedbacks improves model realism

Model resolution affects entropy production and temperature predictions

Abstract

In this paper, we show how the MEP hypothesis may be used to build simple climate models without representing explicitly the energy transport by the atmosphere. The purpose is twofold. First, we assess the performance of the MEP hypothesis by comparing a simple model with minimal input data to a complex, state-of-the-art General Circulation Model. Next, we show how to improve the realism of MEP climate models by including climate feedbacks, focusing on the case of the water-vapour feedback. We also discuss the dependence of the entropy production rate and predicted surface temperature on the resolution of the model.