Next week, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will unveil its latest scientific assessment, widely considered the most authoritative review of climate research.
Next week, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will unveil its latest scientific assessment, widely considered the most authoritative review of climate research. But ahead of its release, scientists have had to grapple with the fact that several next-generation models used in the assessment project that the Earth will warm far faster than previous estimates, Science reported.
“You end up with numbers for even the near-term that are insanely scary — and wrong,” Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told Science.
For each IPCC report, scientists compile the results of numerous climate models from around the globe showing how the planet will respond to varying levels of emissions. Past models showed that a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide would lead to warming of 2 degrees C to 4.5 degrees C. Many new models, however, show that doubling CO2 would lead to warming of more than 5 degrees C, exceeding all expectations, Science reported.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
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