The climate change trial - new indisputable evidence!
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been the world’s authoritative voice on climate change since it was established in 1988. Today the IPCC has published the first part of its long-awaited Fourth Assessment Report which draws together all the major climate research from around the world and provides new and indisputable evidence on climate change.
As the UK’s foremost climate research centre, the Met Office’s Hadley Centre is the single most influential scientific contributor to the world-class science in this report.
The report contains some stark messages.
- There is unequivocal warming of the Earth’s climate system
- There is an increased rate of warming in the planet’s climate system in recent decades
- The warming affects all aspects of the climate system (air, land and sea)
- Global warming due to man's activities is now likely across all continents except Antarctica
- Warming is likely to accelerate during the 21st century unless action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Today's report by IPCC Working Group I is entitled The Physical Science Basis of Climate Change and uses data gathered from 19 climate models around the world. This report and two subsequent reports will constitute the full IPCC Fourth Assessment Report to be published later in 2007.
Dr Richard Wood, senior climate scientist at the Met Office and a co-ordinating author of the report comments: "The world faces a huge challenge in dealing with climate change. This report is a landmark in climate research and today's summary statement captures the important aspects of the issue and gives us a more confident view of what we might expect in the future."
"Great advances in climate change research have been made by the Met Office in recent years, but there are still major challenges ahead. In particular, there is a need for detailed regional information to help decision-makers in government and business plan for and adapt to potentially rapid and dramatic climate change. In order to do this we need to combine our first-class science with increasingly powerful supercomputers."
The chairman of the Met Office Robert Napier added: "The challenge is that climate change is not linear, the planet and all of us face uncertain consequences as temperatures rise. We need to make sense of this challenge — not to scare or alarm but to present with scientific validity the probabilities of what might happen. The Met Office has the ability, the reputation and the responsibility to do this."For the full report see the IPCC web site
More about IPCC Fourth Assessment Report
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Notes to editors:
- The Met Office is the UK's national weather service, providing world-renowned scientific excellence in weather and climate change.
- Met Office climate change consultancy provides data and risk-management services that are used by other government departments and agencies, the private sector and the public to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
- The IPCC was formed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1988.
- Internationally renowned Met Office climate scientists who have been lead contributors to the report will be available for interview in Paris, London, Reading and Exeter. Please contact the Met Office press office to arrange a time and location for this.
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| E-mail: pressoffice@metoffice.gov.uk |
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