# Contents * sl {:toc} ## Idea Acording to Wikipedia: > **Box models** are simplified versions of complex systems, reducing them to boxes (or reservoirs) linked by fluxes. The boxes are assumed to be mixed homogeneously. Within a given box, the concentration of any chemical species is therefore uniform. However, the abundance of a species within a given box may vary as a function of time due to the input to (or loss from) the box or due to the production, consumption or decay of this species within the box. > Simple box models, i.e. box model with a small number of boxes whose properties (e.g. their volume) do not change with time, are often useful to derive analytical formulas describing the dynamics and steady-state abundance of a species. More complex box models are usually solved using numerical techniques. Box models are used extensively to model environmental systems or ecosystems and in studies of [[ocean]] circulation and the [[carbon cycle]]. See Sarmiento et. al in the references. ## References * Climate model: [Box models](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_model#Box_models), Wikipedia. * Slingerland and Kump, _[Mathematical Modeling of Earth's Dynamical Systems - a Primer](http://books.google.com/books?id=KBomVgyZ_g0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Slingerland,+Kump+Princeton+University+Press+2011,+Mathematical+Modeling+of+Earth%27s+Dynamical+Systems-+a+Primer]%28&hl=en&ei=iLRTTtzpLsqUswaVoJTxDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Slingerland%2C%20Kump%20Princeton%20University%20Press%202011%2C%20Mathematical%20Modeling%20of%20Earth%27s%20Dynamical%20Systems-%20a%20Primer]%28&f=false)_, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2011. * J. L. Sarmiento and J. R. Toggweiler, A new model for the role of the oceans in determining atmospheric _P_CO₂, _[Nature](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v308/n5960/abs/308621a0.html)_ **308** (1984), 621–24. doi:10.1038/308621a0. See also [[Climate model]]. category: earth science, climate [[!redirects box models]] [[!redirects Box models]] [[!redirects box model]]