Climate Change Working Group

Video: A video report on the predicted climate shifts.

huffingtonpost.com - October 9th, 2013 - Andrew Freedman

The mean annual climate of the average location on Earth will slip past the most extreme conditions experienced during the past 150 years and into new territory by between 2047 and 2069, depending on the amount of climate-warming greenhouse gases that are emitted during the next few decades, a new study found. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, used a new index to show for the first time when the climate — which has been warming during the past century in response to manmade pollution and natural variability — will be radically different from average conditions during the 1860-2005 period.

The study shows that tropical areas, which contain the richest diversity of species on the planet as well as some of the poorest countries, will be among the first to see the climate exceed historical limits — in as little as a decade from now — which spells trouble for rainforest ecosystems and nations that have a limited capacity to adapt to rapid climate change.

ipcc.ch - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

"Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis" is the contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This comprehensive assessment of the physical aspects of climate change puts a focus on those elements that are relevant to understand past, document current, and project future climate change.

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND FOR LINKS TO THE FULL REPORT)

cnn.com - by Dave Hennen, Brandon Miller and Eliott C. McLaughlin - September 27, 2013

(CNN) -- The world's getting hotter, the sea's rising and there's increasing evidence neither are naturally occurring phenomena.

So says a report from the U.N. International Panel on Climate Change, a document released every six years that is considered the benchmark on the topic. More than 800 authors and 50 editors from dozens of countries took part in its creation.

The summary for policymakers was released early Friday, while the full report, which bills itself as "a comprehensive assessment of the physical science basis of climate change," will be distributed Monday. Other reports, including those dealing with vulnerability and mitigation, will be released next year.

Here are the highlights from Friday's summary:

Man-made climate change is almost certain

ibtimes.com - September 3rd, 2013 - Zoe Mintz

Soot from the mid-1800s may be to blame for the retreat of mountain glaciers in the European Alps.

According to a new study published in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, soot, or black carbon, produced during the period of rapid industrialization caused the abrupt retreat of mountain glaciers after the long cold spell known as the Little Ice Age.

"Before now, most scientists have believed the end of the Little Ice Age in the 1800s was due to a natural climatic shift, distinct and well before emissions of carbon dioxide reached levels that could start to influence climate and glaciers in the 20th century,” lead author Thomas Painter, a snow and ice scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)