The many factors that affect the climate interact with one another and give rise to interconnected feedback cycles. The mathematics is so complex, the only way scientists know to handle it is by feeding the problem into computers, which then approximately solve the equations. The formula used to calculate changes of the atmosphere and oceans — the Navier-Stokes equation — central to predicting Earth’s climate, is famously difficult to solve and has caused mathematicians and physicists headaches for 200 years.
By Sabine Hossenfelder. New York Times. June 12, 2019.
