For instance, they might model only part of the ocean-atmosphere system, using much more closely spaced grid points, to get a better fix on regional changes.

It is the internal dynamics of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system that determine the onset and termination of El Niño events.

The evolution of these currents have been reproduced in dynamical models of the ocean-atmosphere system.

Resident scientific programs strengthened in the 1980s as the institute became a key link in an international effort to describe and understand the ocean-atmosphere system.

Carbon content in the ocean-atmosphere system is affected by changes in weathering rates, which in turn is dominantly controlled by rainfall.

A third research group, using computerized simulations of the ocean-atmosphere system, concluded that the present-day thawing of Northern Hemisphere sea ice could not be explained by natural causes.

Computer models of the ocean-atmosphere system reconstructed this trend accurately, said Dr. Alan Robock of Rutgers University, a member of the research team.

But scientists believe it sets off complex and far-reaching changes in the ocean-atmosphere system that drives the climate.

They believe this sudden "flip," in which the ocean-atmosphere system drastically reorganizes, sets off glacial periods and interglacials.

An event in one part of the ocean-atmosphere system can affect weather thousands of miles away through what climatologists call "teleconnections."