Isakari, Shirley M., and Richard CJ Somerville. “Accurate numerical solutions for Daisyworld.” Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology 41, no. 4 (1989): 478-482.
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The numerical solutions of the Daisyworld model of Watson and Lovelock contain significant quantitative errors. We give accurate numerical solutions for the same cases. We also show how the errors may have been caused by failure to enforce computational constraints such as strict tests of steadiness. The errors which we find do not qualitatively alter the main conclusions of Watson and Lovelock, but they illustrate a peril. The Daisyworld model is an example of a mathematical system which is too idealized to be compared with observations but too complex to be solved analytically. Such systems can be probed only by numerical simulations, so it is crucial that the computations be trustworthy.