Climate research seeks to understand past and future climatic conditions and processes, as well as their impacts on Earth’s ecosystems, human communities, and the economy. Scientists measure climate directly using weather instruments, look at proxy data that gives clues about climatic conditions in prehistoric times, and use computer models to simulate the current Earth system and predict how it might change in the future. These models are complex mathematical representations of the physical processes governing Earth’s climate and include everything from how the winds blow to how sea ice reflects sunlight to how forests take up carbon dioxide. Because they rely on in-depth knowledge of the way each part of the Earth functions, modelers must continually refine and improve them to ensure accuracy (see Held 2005).
Climate researchers also seek to detect change. They define a change as an observed phenomenon that differs from the average of previous observations, if the probability that the difference could be explained by chance is small. This means that the scientists must examine how much an observation differs from the average in order to determine whether or not it is likely due to changes in external factors (IPCC-Glossary 2226).
As the research community grapples with anthropogenic climate change, it is important to engage with communities around the world. This can help to raise awareness of climate issues, promote understanding of key concepts, and encourage engagement with adaptive efforts that are both effective and culturally relevant. As such, it is not surprising that highly cited climate researchers collaborate most with anglophone countries, especially when the focus of their work is on the impact of climate change on those populations (see Fu and Waltman 2021).