Climate physics · Research Worlds
Climate is energy, not last week’s weather
They modelled how heat moves through air, including water-vapour feedback, and asked what extra CO₂ does.
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Watch the 90-second visual story ↗What will you explore?
Manabe & Wetherald, 1967
Climate is the energy budget of the air, not last Tuesday’s rain.
How does it work?
Watch a 90-second cinematic explanation, or explore a story that pauses so you can change its central mechanism. Inspect the source evidence, compare outcomes and resume the narration. This free Lesson Worlds adaptation needs no account or download; younger learners may want help from a parent or teacher.
Inside the cinematic story
Where does the energy go?
Incoming sunlight. Outgoing thermal energy.
An atmosphere, layer by layer.
A radiative–convective model
Change the conditions.
A changed atmosphere changes the balance.
Take control: Choose a qualitative scenario. Reference state · Changed CO₂
Water vapor responds too.
Temperature ↔ water vapor ↔ radiation
Compare the assumptions.
Two assumptions. Different responses.
Take control: Which humidity treatment is illustrated? Absolute humidity fixed · Relative humidity prescribed
An equilibrium, not tomorrow's weather.
Read the assumptions beside the result.
Discuss the evidence
Before starting, explain what you think this claim means: Climate is the energy budget of the air, not last Tuesday’s rain. After exploring, choose one stage above and describe what its model helps you see. Separate what you observed in the adaptation from what the original researchers measured.
Read the original publication for its methods, evidence and limitations. Ask which part of the explanation the interactive model leaves out, and what additional evidence you would need to test the claim yourself.
Qualitative reconstruction of radiative–convective equilibrium. Particle counts, trajectories and curves are illustrative, not a rerun of the 1967 model, forecasts or measured fluxes. Prescribed humidity and other model assumptions constrain the conclusions.
Original research
Thermal Equilibrium of the Atmosphere with a Given Distribution of Relative Humidity
Syukuro Manabe & Richard T. Wetherald · Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 24, 241–259 (May 1967) · 1967
Educational adaptation by Lesson Worlds. Not affiliated with the authors or the American Meteorological Society. The original publication may have its own access terms.