What kind of models are used for modelling the atmosphere? Do you use lots of finite-element methods?
Well, the kind of model I'm using is http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/models/atm-cam/docs/description/. I think it uses finite-element methods - I haven't gotten into the raw details of it yet, but I'll read them once school is over. There's also a radiative transfer part that can get quite complex (especially once you get into the photochemistry of molecules other than ozone with higher fluxes of higher-frequency light)
There are other models that use atmosphere+ocean coupling, but for now we'll stick to a slab-ocean model, since full coupling would probably requi...
There must be quite a few undergrad/graduate/post-doc/???-level researchers on LessWrong. I'm interested in hearing about your work. I'll post about myself in the comments.