Laser ablation involves heat transfer, phase changes and/or chemical reactions, and gas dynamics. All three of these processes are tightly coupled with each other. A model has previously been developed to simulate the nanosecond scale laser ablation of carbon. This model has been extended to accommodate longer term simulations and multiple laser pulses. The effects of varying the timing of a second laser pulse by tens of nanoseconds are explored. It is shown that by changing this interval one can control the total mass ablated and the mass transfer rate. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.