Tool to simulate climate & weather effects

I am looking for a tool that can be used to create worlds with a realistic (= physically plausible) climate and surface given general terrain shape, or can at least assist in such a task.

My ideal workflow would be to provide the following data as input:

• World terrain shape (perhaps something like a height field)
• Sea level and perhaps other large bodies of water
• General planet & atmosphere properties

The output would be a distribution of terrain types such as deserts (hot and icy) and rivers, with forests or plains being a bonus. Some general climate or weather maps would be welcome as well.

Of course, tools which follow the same idea but with a slightly different set of inputs/outputs are fine too.

It wouldn't have to be production quality; incomplete functionality or semi-automatic operation (i.e. user assistance required) is perfectly acceptable. It looks like something which would make a great bachelor/master thesis topic, so academic code is OK.

I am not really restricted to a specific operating system (that's what virtual machines and Live CDs are for). My primary system is Windows, so support for that is a bonus, but definitely not required.

posted over 9 years ago

Reinstate Monica‭

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