08 April 2026
A new free-to-use tool that allows scientists to quickly check how accurately climate models represent the real world has been launched by an international team of researchers.
The Rapid Evaluation Framework (REF) was unveiled in March at an international climate modelling conference in Kyoto, Japan. It was developed by a team of scientists working on the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), a global collaboration that develops, compares and improves climate models used in major reports such as those produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Climate models are computer simulations of the Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land surface. Scientists use them to understand past climate change and project what the future may hold. The REF makes it much faster and easier to assess how well these models perform by automatically comparing their outputs against real-world observations.
Previously, this kind of evaluation work could take months. The REF automates much of the process, running checks across a wide range of measurements and producing results that are available online for anyone to access.
Dr Ranjini Swaminathan, co-lead of the Model Benchmarking Task Team and scientist at the UK’s National Centre for Earth Observation, University of Reading, said: "This tool brings together climate scientists and Earth observation researchers to quickly check how accurately climate simulations reflect reality. The better we can do that, the more reliable our picture of future climate change becomes, and the better equipped policymakers and communities are to respond to it."
The tool is open access — any researcher anywhere in the world can use it at no cost. It can be accessed online or downloaded and run locally at climate modelling centres. Results are displayed through an online dashboard and are also available in standard scientific data formats.
The REF is initially being used to evaluate model data from CMIP7, the latest phase of the international climate modelling project. CMIP7 data will directly feed into the IPCC's Seventh Assessment Report, which will inform global climate policy.
The project received funding from organisations including the European Space Agency, and in-kind contributions from many others, including the UK's National Centre for Earth Observation and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
We are in the process of finalising our postgraduate taught courses for 2027/28 entry. In the meantime, you can view our 2026/27 courses.
