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Topic · Global and Planetary Change

Climate variability and models

Climate variability and models is a research topic within Global and Planetary Change. Science Explorer counts 79k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers encompasses a wide range of research on climate change, global warming, and variability, including studies on extreme events, climate modeling, precipitation extremes, ocean circulation, ENSO variability, Arctic amplification, and the hydrological cycle. It also addresses the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and the challenge of keeping global warming below 2°C.

  • Climate Change
  • Global Warming
  • Extreme Events
  • Climate Modeling
  • Precipitation Extremes
  • Ocean Circulation
  • ENSO Variability
  • Arctic Amplification
  • Hydrological Cycle
  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Research works
79k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
7.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-1%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
39% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Climate variability and models

Which countries lead Climate variability and models research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (5.1k and 3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 5.1k works
  2. 2 United States 3k works
  3. 3 India 1.3k works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 812 works
  5. 5 Germany 746 works
  6. 6 France 562 works
  7. 7 Australia 427 works
  8. 8 Japan 390 works
  9. 9 South Korea 360 works
  10. 10 Italy 355 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 39.1%United States: 22.9%India: 9.9%United Kingdom: 6.2%6 others listed: 21.8%39%largest
China5,092 · 39.1%United States2,983 · 22.9%India1,291 · 9.9%United Kingdom812 · 6.2%6 others listed2,840 · 21.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Climate variability and models research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Climate variability and models research, followed by Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and China Meteorological Administration.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 825 works
  2. 2 Nanjing University of Information Science and TechnologyChina 392 works
  3. 3 China Meteorological AdministrationChina 342 works
  4. 4 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 231 works
  5. 5 National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationUnited States 224 works
  6. 6 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 189 works
  7. 7 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 184 works
  8. 8 Ministry of Earth SciencesIndia 180 works
  9. 9 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 175 works
  10. 10 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 142 works

Who are the leading researchers in Climate variability and models?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Climate variability and models include Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, Jun Wang and Mark A. Bradford.

  1. 1 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
  2. 2 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  3. 3 Mark A. Bradford United States 268k citations
  4. 4 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  5. 5 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  6. 6 Michelle Lee Bell United States 197k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Climate variability and models?

The most cited paper in Climate variability and models is "The ERA5 global reanalysis" (Hans Hersbach et al., 2020), with 32,366 citations. Next come "The ERA‐Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system" (26,509) and "Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas" (20,328).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The ERA5 global reanalysis Hans Hersbach et al. · Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society Open access 17 May 2020 32,366
2 The ERA‐Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system Dick P. Dee et al. · Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society Open access Apr 2011 26,509
3 Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas Robert J. Hijmans, Susan E. Cameron, Juan L. Parra et al. · International Journal of Climatology 2005 20,328
4 WorldClim 2: new 1‐km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas Stephen E. Fick, Robert J. Hijmans · International Journal of Climatology 15 May 2017 17,637
5 An Overview of CMIP5 and the Experiment Design Karl E. Taylor, Ronald J. Stouffer, Gerald A. Meehl · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Open access 7 Oct 2011 14,860
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Climate variability and models research done?

The largest centres of Climate variability and models research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Boulder (United States) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Tsukuba, Sparkill and Offenbach.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.8k works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 711 works
  3. 3 BoulderUnited States 286 works
  4. 4 GuangzhouChina 281 works
  5. 5 QingdaoChina 243 works
  6. 6 ShanghaiChina 210 works
  7. 7 ParisFrance 203 works
  8. 8 New DelhiIndia 189 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 166 works
  10. 10 LanzhouChina 161 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Tsukuba24.1 works123×
  2. SparkillUS · 32.2 works79×
  3. OffenbachDE · 27.0 works68×
  4. Qingdao36.6 works55×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Climate variability and models than the world average.

See Climate variability and models on the map

Where is the best place to study Climate variability and models?

Among universities, judged by research, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and Beijing Normal University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 19.22%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Indian Institute of …Université Mohammed …Beijing Normal Unive…Nanjing University o…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Université Mohammed VI PolytechniqueMorocco 60.926.2%9.7×13 +382.2%
2Nanjing University of Information Science and TechnologyChina 59.87.1%62.8×392 +30.5%
3Beijing Normal UniversityChina 58.715.9%11.5×142 +11.4%
4Indian Institute of Technology GandhinagarIndia 56.032.1%7.6×11 -9.3%
5ETH ZurichSwitzerland 55.915.8%8.2×88 -30.9%
6Hohai UniversityChina 53.612.8%11.7×106 +14.8%
7Northwest A&F UniversityChina 53.426.5%3.2×19 +30.5%
8University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 53.111.6%7.3×184 +4.9%
9China University of GeosciencesChina 51.916.7%6.2×43 +80.7%
10Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 51.727.5%0.8×10 +72.9%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Climate variability and models, country by country

Is Climate variability and models research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 1% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Climate variability and models as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.066% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%Climate variability and models0.065% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Climate variability and models over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Climate variability and models9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Questions people ask

How much research is there on climate change, and is it growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 1% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

Is Climate variability and models research growing?

Which countries lead climate change research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (5.1k and 3k works in 2022-now).

Which countries lead Climate variability and models research?
All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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