Developing climate model comparisons: Experimental design for CMIP6: Aerosols, land use, and future scenarios; Aspen, Colorado, 4-8 August 2014

Since 1995, the worldwide climate modeling community has designed and participated in a series of intercomparison projects for the purposes of understanding and improving model performance, investigating scientific questions about the climate system, and projecting future climate conditions. These projects have been defined under the umbrella of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, and phase 6 of that project (CMIP6) is just getting under way. As in previous phases, many CMIP6 modeling activities interact and overlap with each other. For example, credible projections of future climate conditions require understanding and validating a variety of Earth system model responses, including those to changes in concentrations of greenhouse gases, aerosols and other air pollutants, and land use change.