| What is a model, anyway? Different geoscientists will give different answers. There are conceptual models, numerical models, statistical models, forward models and inverse models; there are even different models of the scientific method. As a founding and now chief exec editor of the journal Geoscientific Model Development, I have contemplated the different approaches to computational modelling presently being implemented across the different areas of Geoscience. Meanwhile, in my own work, I have primarily focused on confronting model output with observations. It is from these perspectives that I will discuss the variety of roles and usages of modelling in modern geoscience. |