A VAST MACHINE COMPUTER MODELS, CLIMATE DATA, AND THE POLITICS OF GLOBAL WARMING PAUL N. EDWARDS A Vast Machine A Vast Machine Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming Paul N. Edwards The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2010 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. For information on special quantity discounts, email
[email protected] .edu. Set in Stone by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Edwards, Paul N. A vast machine : computer models, climate data, and the politics of global warming / Paul N. Edwards. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-262-01392-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Weather forecasting. 2. Climatology — History. 3. Meteorology — History. 4. Climatology — Technological innovation. 5. Global temperature changes. I. Title. QC995.E296 2010 551.63 — dc22 2009030678 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 for Steve The meteorologist is impotent if alone; his observations are useless; for they are made upon a point, while the speculations to be derived from them must be on space. The Meteorological Society, therefore, has been formed not for a city, nor for a kingdom, but for the world. It wishes to be the central point, the moving power, of a vast machine, and it feels that unless it can be this, it must be powerless; if it cannot do all it can do nothing.