Just a note or two:

This is part of a much larger project which is to build a rough, very rough global climate model _ one that is small enough to run on anybody's PC. It will surely take a long time (years, maybe) to build this thing, but a few parts are almost ready to be let out of their cages. This one is about the global grid I am currently planning to use.

In all of this I mean to downplay fancy math and use as much of natural language as possible, but words like partial differential equation will have to be used now and then. I'll do the best I can to treat such things as language that helps to describe the arithmetic that has to be done and, hopefully, helps to describe the choices of ways to squeeze it onto a relatively small computer.

And there will be equations, and algorithms, and implementations in a computing language (C, in fact). Now there are certain purveyers of browsers who don't seem to agree with me that math, and art, and architecture, and music, and dance (to mention just a few) are language too. Writing equations can be really, really easy if the use of fonts like 'symbol.ttf' or 'symbolps.ttf' is allowed. If your browser doesn't support that, I can't help you. These pieces can be read by Internet Explorer. Printing is a little trickier because of diagrams that shouldn't be interrupted by pagebreaks. (The footers are turned off on my printer.) Anyone who thinks writing relatively simple equations requires something like latex or mathml might wish to look at sty.css __ it does most of the easy stuff, and it allows personal preferences that are not always easy to satisfy with what comes in packages. 'sty.css' is a utility, a way to think about it all; if you don't like it, change it.

Finally: this just isn't going to be easy _ any helpful suggestions from anyone who has tried to do this kind of thing will incorporated, with my profoundest thanks. And if it's really good, there will be a reference to it.

The grid is here
The plan is here