The Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) is a governmental funded research centre devoted to research in the climate system and global environment. Since 1995, the IPSL Climate Modelling Centre (ICMC) develops climate models and performs simulations with them in order to improve our understanding and our knowledge of the climate, of its current characteristics and of its past and futur changes.
Many aspects of the climate system are studied at IPSL and ICMC is among the first climate modelling centres to develop and use the Earth System Models (ESM). These models include the different components of the climate system (the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere) and they represent both the physical and biogeochemical processes.