Environmental Modelling

Modelling is not just a science; it is also an art.

We began our careers in modelling in a research institute, surrounded by modellers who were working together to achieve a common goal. In this high-pressure atmosphere, the science of modelling was subject to constant debate, and reading the latest papers was needed just to keep up with tea-time chat. The art of modelling flowed undetected from our senior colleagues, but nevertheless permeated the philosophy of our group's strategy and directed every decision on model structure and approach.

When we started to devise a course on environmental modelling, we realised there was no formal text to introduce modelling to environmental science students. There have been many excellent books published that explain difficult techniques to the more experienced modeller, but there is nothing for the complete beginner. We set out to write an introduction to the approaches we had learnt over the years, and provide a framework for understanding how different approaches fit together. These approaches are always changing, but this book provides a starting point for researchers who will go on to develop their own distinct art.

To make the subject more accessible, we included a comic strip, telling the story of an environmental modeller, newly appointed to an important position on a fictional version of Mars. This continuing storyline summarises approaches explained in the main text, and allows us to simplify examples provided.

This was designed to be a book that would not just discuss the ideas of modelling, but show the reader how to do it. The chapter titles reflect this; "How to develop a model", "How to evaluate a model", "How to apply a model". We hope this book will take the angst out of modelling. Modelling is a crucial tool and it should accessible to all.

Jo Smith and Pete Smith
April 2007

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